Trading halt put on Sulja stock
Company trying to avoid probe: ASC
Gary Rennie, Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, August 21, 2007
canada.com
The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) imposed a trading halt Monday on stock of Nevada-incorporated Sulja Brothers Building Supplies Ltd. and the Ontario-based company.
For decades, Sulja Brothers did business in the Harrow area.
ASC investigators were concerned the Sulja companies were moving to Alberta to avoid the jurisdiction of the Ontario Securities Commission. The commission had imposed a trading halt last December as part of its investigation of alleged securities violations.
"We are persuaded that there is, prima facie, a risk of a repetition or continuation of the same or similar conduct in Alberta," says the ASC decision of members Glenda Campbell and Stephen Murison. "This risk is heightened with the apparent planned move of Sulja Ontario's head office to this province."
The ASC decision goes further than the OSC ban in also forbidding any of the Sulja companies, as well as former Sulja CEO Petar Vucicevich, who lives in Colchester, and a San Antonio Texas business associate, Andrew DeVries, from buying or selling securities in Alberta.
The ASC said its trading halt would remain in force as long as the OSC halt continues. The Ontario hearing is Sept. 7.
The ASC held a hearing in Calgary last Wednesday, but none of the companies or individuals given notice attended or sent lawyers.
Mark Dickey, a senior communication adviser with the ASC, said the only response was a letter received from Windsor lawyer Dan Scott, representing Vucicevich and his company Kore International Management Inc.
Scott's letter took "no position" on the possibility of the Alberta trading halt and denied a relationship between Vucicevich, his Kore company and Sulja Brothers, said Dickey.
Scott couldn't be reached for comment.
The OSC has alleged stock prices were manipulated, false and misleading news releases were issued, and stock sold without issuing a prospectus as required in Ontario.
© The Windsor Star 2007
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