Ratio responded this morning to media reports yesterday of apparent involvement of underworld figures in the company. The partnership said that the lawsuit filed in the courts this week, the main source of information on which the reports were based, was nothing but another attempt at extortion by Shlomi Shukrun, owner of Globus International Construction and Development Investments, who, according to Ratio, has been trying for years to extort money from its owners in various ways.
"Shukrun's claims are groundless and completely false," Ratio says. "A professional arbitrator who has been working with the parties for two years in order to try to resolve a dispute in a professional and legitimate manner, is on the point of giving his ruling, which Shukrun apparently realizes will not be in his favor.
"Shukrun filed a lawsuit in the District Court over the matter. It was summarily dismissed, and he was obliged to pay NIS 50,000 costs. This time, an absurd lawsuit has been filed, with the sole aim of bringing in the media to exert illegitimate pressure on the firm and its managers. Ratio and its managers will not submit to these extortionate pressures this time either."
According to Ratio, a few weeks ago, representatives of Globus approached representatives of Ratio, and threatened that unless Ratio paid huge amounts in exchange for a compromise agreement in the arbitration process being conducted before the arbitrator Assaf Baram, a motion would be filed in the court to annul the arbitrator's decision, in which mention would be made of the involvement of supposedly criminal elements in the contacts that preceded the setting up of the arbitration proceedings.
The partnership says that Shukrun himself threatened that he would distribute the statement of claim among the media, in an attempt to besmirch the name of Ratio and its managers.
Ratio's statement also said, "Since Ratio and its managers have no connection with any criminal elements, the company did not give in to pressure, even though it knew that a legal document would be filed in the court containing allegations publication of which constitutes slander."
The arbitrator, Assaf Baram, is preclude from disclosing details of the arbitration proceedings, and yesterday said only that as far as the motion to annul the arbitration ruling was concerned, "the facts mentioned in the media reports are inaccurate, to say the least."
Ratio is the general partner in Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) LP (TASE:RATI.L), which holds 15% of the rights to the "Leviathan" prospect and is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at a market value of NIS 2.72 billion. The price of its partnership units has fallen 15% in the past few days, but is still some 700% higher than it was a year ago. Ratio itself is a privately held company and is not traded on the stock exchange.
Last night, Channel 2 News reported that a contractor from Ashkelon (Shukrun) demanded from Ratio CEO Yigal Landau that he should return his NIS 5 million investment in the partnership. He said that Landau promised to return the money, but failed to keep his word. A few weeks later, two criminals knocked on the door of Landau's house, demanding payment of the debt in the contractor's name.
Among other things, Landau is a shareholder in Union Bank of Israel (TASE: UNON).
According to Channel 2, Landau was alarmed, and approached a security firm he knew, but the owner told him he could not handle the problem, and referred him for arbitration to Meir Abergil, who, according to the police, heads a criminal organization. Abergil, who with his brother Itzik is awaiting a decision on an extradition request by the US, decided that the matter should be referred to a professional arbitrator.
The parties approached Baram, a well-known expert on securities and a lecturer in demand, who did not identify the criminals, and agreed to take on the arbitration. After the price of Ratio's partnership units shot up, the Ashkelon contractor demanded the profit on the share, and filed a lawsuit to have the arbitration agreement cancelled. It was this lawsuit that uncovered the alleged connection between Landau and criminal figures.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 15, 2010
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