OREANDA-NEWS. January 16, 2012. In advance of the appointment of Simon Freakley, Senior Partner of Zolfo Cooper LLP, as temporary administrator to Snoras Bank AB it was agreed that he would be retained at the level of EUR 140,000 per month, reported the press-centre of Bank SNORAS. 

Additional costs incurred during the temporary administration process are made of fees paid to the skilled multidisciplinary team of forensic accountants, restructuring professionals, legal advisers and banking operations specialists who supported Freakley in his work to stabilise the Bank, clarify its financial position, identify assets and present the Lithuanian Central Bank with a range of options regarding the future for Snoras.
 
We would add that under exceptionally tight deadlines we delivered a full investigation and analysis to the Lithuanian Central Bank which allowed them to make a clear informed decision as to the future of Snoras Bank AB. In the course of the short time available to us and in line with the Central Bank's requirements we achieved a significant amount including:
 
Assuming full control of the Bank and securing its assets

Ensuring that the Bank retained liquidity

Delivering the design and assessment of a range of future options for the Bank

Liaising with all key stakeholder groups

Identifying significant amounts of physical and electronic evidence
 
Our work allowed us to conclude that although the Bank recorded key financial assets of LTL 2.9bn we were at the time of our report only to identify approximately LTL 300mn. We advised that we believed the deficit to be due to the activities of the two major shareholders in the Bank. These activities included:
 
The transfer of bank owned securities to privately owned accounts in offshore jurisdictions of approximately  LTL 1BN

 Questionable investments made in the run-up to the appointment of the Temporary Administrator of approximately LTL 500mn

 The transfer of 22 loans worth approximately LTL 500mn from the Bank's balance sheet to a number of offshore funds.

Our team of experts have identified transactions to companies located in jurisdictions including Switzerland, Belize, Ukraine, Russia, Cyprus, the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands.
 
The above information clearly highlights the scale and complexity of the task we faced at the date of our appointment on November 16th and was identified as a direct result of the skills and expertise we were able to bring to this uniquely challenging assignment. We are now actively engaged in the work required to secure as many of this identified assets as possible and will provide regular updates as appropriate.