Embattled Harrow lumberyard closing
Gary Rennie, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, June 27, 2007
canada.com
Sulja Brothers Building Supplies, which is facing Ontario Securities Act charges, announced Wednesday the pending closure of its Harrow location and a move to Calgary.
"The decision to close Harrow after 19 years was a hard one, but we are ultimately responsible to our shareholders," CEO Steve Sulja said in a news release.
Sulja said the company will continue to supply local customers from a site on County Road 17 in Tecumseh.
A location has been found in Calgary, Sulja said in the press release. The address and an opening date weren't mentioned in the press release.
Nothing was said about the future of the several dozen employees at the Harrow location.
The Star attempted to reach Sulja at the Harrow operation where an inventory sale was under way Wednesday.
An employee, Leslie Budway, promised to relay a message to Sulja with a request for an interview. She said he was in the U.S. Budway said more details about the move to Calgary would be released shortly.
"We would like to thank all the clients who have supported us over the last 20 years at our Harrow location," said Sulja advertisements in several county weekly newspapers.
Harrow Hometown Family Pharmacy co-owner and Chamber of Commerce member Lonie Kady said the closing of the local lumberyard the subject of talk in town.
But not much more was known than what the company advertised, Kady said. He didn't think Sulja had been active with the chamber recently. "They kind of kept to themselves," he said. Essex Mayor Ron McDermott said he hadn't heard about the pending Harrow closure.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) put a province-wide trading halt on Sulja Bros. stock last December.
Allegations of manipulating stock prices, issuing false and misleading press releases, and selling stock without issuing a prospectus were made last December against a Nevada-incorporated company with the Sulja name and its former CEO Petar Vucicevich.
Also charged were the Harrow-based Sulja Bros., another company of Vucicevich's called Kore International Management, and a San Antonio, Texas resident, Andrew DeVries.
The OSC has extended the trading halt several times while its investigation continues. Next hearing is scheduled for July 5 in Toronto.
Sulja stock has traded recently in the U.S. over-the-counter market for about 1.5 cents per share. It traded as high as 21 cents a share last year.
In a January press release, the company acknowledged it was also under scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company cautioned investors then not to rely upon any of its previous press releases or other public statements.
A class action lawsuit has been launched in the U.S. against the public company as well as Steve Sulja and Vucicevich by one investor, who said buying the stock ruined his life, wiping out $67,000 US in retirement savings.
A separate lawsuit is proceeding in Detroit against Loftwerks Inc., the publicly traded company that Sulja Bros. claimed to have merged with last year.
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