Henri B., a French octogenarian living in the Île-de-France region, appealed to the Romanian Embassy in France at the beginning of the year, intending to obtain EUR 116 mln in exchange for a bearer bond issued by the Romanian state in 1929. He reportedly paid EUR 0.3 mln for the bond in 2018.

The bond was issued in 1929 by Romania to finance part of the country's public debt. At the time of issue, it had the face value of "500 Gold Francs", as indicated on the document. The bond has an interest rate attached.

"Which explains why after all these years, this bearer bond, with an intrinsically [face] low value, represents such a colossal sum," Henri B.'s lawyer, Grégory Levy, told Le Parisien, Bfmtv.com reported.

"The bond has been validated by a Romanian financial company," he added, assuring that the document has no expiry date.

Henri B. said that he has contacted since 2020 several institutions in Romania without success.

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) reportedly replied that it could not make the payment as it is not the issuing authority but "the Romanian State through the Ministry of Finance".

andrei@romania-insider.com

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