BUDAPEST--Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU) said Friday that one of its former employees, who is also a shareholder in the company, has launched a private prosecution against the firm's Chairman and Chief Executive Zsolt Hernadi over MOL share price losing its value due to the Hungarian firm's allegedly unlawful behavior in connection with its acquisition of management rights in Croatian peer INA d.d.

MAIN FACTS:

- MOL said Mr. Hernadi has been named as a defendant in a private prosecution in Hungary. The case is pursued by a private individual and MOL shareholder against Mr. Hernadi in person.

- MOL is not a party to the lawsuit.

- The plaintiff claims that the loss of value in possessed MOL shares was caused by alleged improper and unlawful behavior in connection with MOL's acquisition of management rights over INA. The case is handled by the Budapest County Court.

- The plaintiff, who is a former MOL employee, chose a special type of procedure, the so-called private prosecution, after a claim submitted to the Hungarian state prosecution was rejected. The factual components of the private prosecution based on the allegations available from the Croatian and Hungarian media seem to be deemed inextricably linked to those of Croatia's present Arrest Warrant request.

- Mr. Hernadi has demonstrated already in the past to MOL's Board of Directors full satisfaction why assertions are unfounded and the case is without merit.

- MOL acknowledges the fact that the resolution of the Hungarian state prosecution to dismiss any request in this respect remains unchanged.

- Furthermore, MOL considers this private prosecution handled by the competent Budapest County Court as a fair and independent court case and trusts that the court will review the facts thoughtfully and in the most appropriate manner.

Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com