Investigators suspect former members of the company's management for causing damage to the company in the amount of PLN 428 million through complicated financial operations on foreign bonds.
CBA agents entered several houses, apartments and law offices, detaining eight former members of the management board and supervisory board from 2011-2014. To guarantee the repayment of possible future fines, the prosecutor's office established compulsory mortgages on 55 plots and premises, and also secured shares in companies, luxury watches and cash. The total value of the seized property is a record PLN 69 million. Additionally, in order to be released, the suspects had to pay a bail bond of nearly PLN 6 million.
A record-breaking attack on the former heads of the SA Movement
The scale of these activities is unique in the Polish justice system. “As far as I know, the prosecutor's office has never used security on such a large scale before” — one of the experienced Krakow prosecutors directly notes, and another investigator adds that in commercial cases such seizures usually amount to several hundred thousand zlotys.
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The main reason for the problems of the former state giant were suspected transactions with the Dutch company Lurena Investments BV. The press distributor purchased its unsecured bonds without examining the financial situation of the issuer. As prosecutor Janusz Kowalski, deputy regional prosecutor in Krakow, explains to “GW”, in 2014 it was decided that Ruch would not collect receivables from previously purchased bonds, and after their redemption date, it was decided to purchase further bonds from Lurena Investments BV in order to then compensate for mutual receivables and liabilities.
The Fall of the Movement. The press distributor became insolvent
The economic calculation showed that Ruch was selling its assets to an external entity, which ultimately ruined the company. “These transactions had no economic justification. To put it simply, money was siphoned off.” – sums up a person who knows the background of the investigation.
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The actions of the company's authorities led to its complete insolvency. The movement stopped paying press publishers for its distribution, and the debts increased to PLN 167 million. In 2019, after debt reduction, the failing distributor was finally taken over by Orlen. This rescue operation, in turn, became the subject of a separate investigation recently initiated by the Warsaw prosecutor's office. According to the current management of the fuel company, the unsuccessful restructuring of Ruch, carried out on the basis of an unrealistic plan, could have cost Orlen up to PLN 950 million.
