And it failed. Of course.

Taking legal action was not the preferred option, especially in countries with a high level of corruption and weak legal system. Resolving the situation through discussions was preferred. After lots of discussions and meetings, the only outcome was delays. We had no choice but to start legal action. That started in 2009 and it is still going on.

Shareholders have many forms of protection under Kyrgyz law. At least in theory! Shareholders are entitled to receive financial information, participate in management, share in the distribution of profits and call an emergency general meeting of the company. Similar laws exist in most, if not all, countries. The issue is whether the law is enforced.

In accordance with the legislation, we called an emergency General Meeting of Trilight LLC. We sent the notice of meeting by letter to Nurgazy Nurgaziev on May 6, 2009. The meeting was scheduled for May 12, 2009 at 11:00 am”.

Nurgazy did not attend, even though it is required by law. It came as no surprise. His lawyer attended and made Nurgazy’s perspective clear, which was not comforting.

We send another letter May 19, 2009. Again, Nurgazy did not attend. His lawyer did not attend either.

There was a potential breach of Kyrgyz law. Financial Police is aware of this. They investigated and closed the investigations four times. However, no action was taken. More details on the investigations, including how we managed to get the case investigated four times, will be shared in later articles.

Just a thought. If a law is not enforced, is it better to repeal the law and keep things simple and practical?

On June 2 we sent a third letter. Nurgazy mentioned that he was interested to buy our shares, but he did not have enough cash. In the letter, we offered two alternatives. Firstly, we offered to sell part of our shares to two employees – the production manager and the technologist. As a result, our shareholding in Trilight LLC would decrease, making it easier for Nurgazy to buy the rest of our shares. Also, with employees being shareholders, they will become more committed to Trilight LLC.

The second alternative related to the land that we purchased. Once the land purchase was finalized, we offered to own 100% of the land instead of 45%. This would also reduce our shareholding, making it easier for Nurgazy to buy the remaining shares.

Nurgazy did not respond to the letter. We discussed in person and over the phone. He was not willing to accept either alternative. He was interested in receiving more money from us, either a loan or other form of investment.

So, the first legal action failed. The first of many. Maybe the intervention of the Prime Minister’s office might help. The next article discusses how the Prime Minister’s office got involved, and what happened.

Note: A criminal case is currently open. These are two most recent letters I received from the prosecutor.

уведомление

Opening of Criminal Case March 2018

Next article: Prime Minister’s Office Gets Involved, Unfortunately

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