Blejer: I notified Turkel of civil lawsuit

The lawsuit against the candidate for Bank of Israel Governor claims the defendants failed to provide warning about a possible nationalization.

"This is not a criminal suit, and neither I nor other directors of the company were ever notified about the claim," Prof. Mario Blejer, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's candidate for governor of the Bank of Israel said today. He spoke in response to a "Globes" report that he is one of the defendants in a class-action lawsuit filed in New York earlier this year against Argentina's national oil company YPF SA (NYSE: YPF; BCBA: YPFD), after President Cristina Kirchner renationalized 51% of the company in 2012.

Asked by "Globes" how he felt following the report, Blejer said, "I feel great. I'm happy to be in Israel."

The renationalization of YPF caused heavy losses to some financial institutions. The Monroe County Employees' Retirement System filed a class-action civil suit with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York by against YPF, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, and Goldman Sachs & Co., and other defendants, including Blejer. Monroe County is in the Detroit metropolitan area in Michigan.

"The lawsuit was filed after YPF was nationalized, as a result of which all the directors were 'released' from their positions. This means that this not a personal claim," Blejer told "Globes" today. "This is quite a mass class-action lawsuit. In addition to myself, scores of directors are named, as well as some of the world's largest investment institutions, including Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs." He adds that if the court finds in the defendants favor, YPF's parent company, Repsol SA (BCBA; IBEX: REP), has extended full insurance to the directors, and the insurance company will bear the costs.

"I told the Turkel Committee, in two different places on the form, about the claim," said Blejer, even though he said he never received the lawsuit. "As can be seen from the minutes, I opposed the distribution of dividends and abstained in the votes," he said, adding that he never signed documents relating to YPF's issues.

The lawsuit will reportedly not influence the Turkel Committee's decision, nor should it be an obstacle to Blejer's approval and appointment, especially since he notified the committee about the case. Blejer was never involved in YPF's nationalization, and the lawsuit only claims that the defendants failed to provide sufficient warning about a possible nationalization of the company.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 12, 2013

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013

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