Where did the millions of PLN from OTS go? The charges against Samer A. have been supplemented.

The Warsaw regional prosecutor's office has supplemented the charges against the main suspect in the case of Orlen Trading Switzerland GmbH (OTS), Samer A., ​​said the spokesman of this prosecutor's office, Prosecutor Mateusz Martyniuk. On Thursday, the court granted another request for the suspect's temporary arrest.

Samer A. is a former member of the management board of Orlen Trading Switzerland GmbH, previously suspected of causing damage to the companies OTS GmbH and Orlen SA (whose daughter company OTS is OTS) amounting to approximately USD 378 million (approx. PLN 1.5 billion). The charges against the man, who resides in the United Arab Emirates, have so far included concluding three unfavorable contracts for the purchase of crude oil between August 21, 2023 and December 21, 2023.

The spokesman for the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor's Office, Prosecutor Mateusz Martyniuk, announced in a statement on Thursday that in the course of the proceedings, the prosecutor's office obtained evidence that allowed them to supplement the charges against Samer A. with the issue of concluding an unfavorable contract on May 21, 2023 for the supply of PLN 80,000. tons of diesel that was never delivered. As we read, as a result of this action, “OTS GmbH and Orlen SA suffered additional damage in the amount of over USD 12 million.”

Proc. Martyniuk added that due to the change in the decision to present charges, the prosecutor's office submitted another request to the District Court for Warsaw-Śródmieście to apply pre-trial detention to the suspect Samer A. for a period of three months. The application containing the current allegations was granted by this court on Thursday.

Samer A. is still in the UAE

The previous request for the temporary arrest of Samer A. for three months was granted by the court in December 2024. This decision then enabled the implementation of a search for the suspect based on the Interpol red notice. In January 2025, Samer A. was detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the Polish Embassy in Abu Dhabi forwarded the prosecutor's request for the extradition of Samer A to the Emirati authorities through diplomatic channels.

Last August spokesman for the National Prosecutor's Office, Prosecutor Przemysław Nowak, informed that the PK received a letter from the National Bureau of Interpol of the United Arab Emirates. It included information that the UAE judicial authorities, after examining Samer A.'s extradition request, found that the request did not meet the conditions “and therefore the competent authority lifted the restrictions previously imposed on this person.” The Director of the International Cooperation Office of the Polish Railways asked the relevant UAE authorities to indicate what additional information or supplements are required by the Polish request for the extradition of Samer A.

In the prosecutor's office's announcement on Thursday, we read that in the court's opinion “the evidence collected by the prosecutor gives rise to a high probability of committing the alleged acts by the suspect.”

As prosecutor Martyniuk added, the court agreed with the prosecutor's argument about the need to apply an isolation preventive measure “due to the suspect's hiding, as well as the fear of fraud and the actual risk of severe punishment.” “Today's court decision will allow for the effective prosecution of suspect Samer A.” – emphasized prosecutor Martyniuk.

Orlen lost PLN 1.6 billion, the matter came to light after PiS lost power

In 2024, the Onet portal reported warnings from Orlen's internal security services. According to the portal, they were intended to indicate that Samer A., ​​from Lebanon, is suspected of contacts with the terrorist organization Hezbollah and involved in illegal trade in oil from Iran. “(The then president Daniel) Obajtek ignored these warnings and placed Samer A. in charge of OTS. As a result, Orlen lost PLN 1.6 billion, which became public only after PiS lost power and Obajtek was dismissed,” the portal wrote.

Another member of the management board of OTS, Marcin O., was also charged with causing damage to the companies OTS GmbH and Orlen SA in the amount of approximately USD 378 million. The man, like Samer A., ​​was abroad, and the case for his extradition was conducted with the Swiss authorities. A few weeks ago, Radio Zet reported that Marcin O. returned to Poland and appeared at the Warsaw regional prosecutor's office, where he was to hear the charges. According to the radio, Marcin O. decided to return to the country on his own due to the court's ruling in mid-December last year. safe conduct – a document that gives a suspect or accused person staying abroad the opportunity to remain at large until the final conclusion of the proceedings, provided that he/she submits a declaration to appear on time at each summons of the court or prosecutor's office.

Another suspect in this investigation is Michał R., a former member of the management board of Orlen SA, whose arrest was reported by the Warsaw regional prosecutor's office in June last year. Another suspect – as previously reported – is the former executive director of OTS and Orlen SA, Filip W.

According to information from the new OTS management board appointed in February 2024, nearly USD 400 million. lost by the company were prepayments for oil supplies – mainly from Venezuela – with the participation of intermediaries. Prepayments from December 2023 did not translate into deliveries of goods. The money went to intermediaries, most of it – about USD 240 million. to one of them, a company founded in 2021 in Dubai by a 25-year-old citizen of China or Hong Kong.

In December 2024, the extraordinary general meeting of Orlen decided that the company would be able to pursue claims for damages by former management board members, and the claims may include unfavorable investment decisions as well as activities related to the OTS company.

Orlen is determined to recover the advances paid by the subsidiary OTS to intermediaries for crude oil deliveries that were not completed, the company announced at the beginning of January last year.

As Orlen emphasized, prepayments made in 2023 in the amount of USD 400 million, without appropriate security, are not standard market practice. The company recalled that for this reason, in April 2024, it made a write-off in the consolidated result in the amount of PLN 1.6 billion. At the same time, Orlen pointed out that – for comparison – in the years 2018-2023 it concluded over a thousand crude oil purchase transactions worth over PLN 100 billion “and did not make a single prepayment during this time.”

“The OTS case is one of the elements (…) of political revenge,” said Daniel Obajtek, former president of Orlen, last year. (PAP)

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