A civil trial against Daniel Obajtek, brought by Orlen for the payment of almost PLN 159,000, began in the court in Łódź on Wednesday. zloty. The company accuses the former president of spending it for private purposes. The defendant's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
The lawsuit against Daniel Obajtek for the payment of PLN 158,799.49 was filed with the court in Łódź in December 2024. Orlen is demanding the return of money that was supposed to be used for private purposes, e.g. for stays in hotels and restaurants. The trial in this case began at the District Court in Łódź on Wednesday.
According to Orlen's information from December 2024, the basis for the lawsuit are “identified actions to the detriment of the company by spending Orlen's funds for purposes unrelated to the performed function.” The point is that Daniel Obajtek “at Orlen's expense, spent many holidays in a luxury hotel in Łeba, used aesthetic medicine treatments, and bought glasses and other luxury items. He spent almost PLN 160,000 for this purpose.”
In another case, Orlen went to court with a similar request against the former vice-president of Orlen, Michał Rog.
Attorney Dominik Hunek, attorney of Daniel Obajtek, told PAP that in the case against the former president of the management board of Orlen, Daniel Obajtek, and against former vice-president Michał Rog, he requests the dismissal of the lawsuit.
Judge Andrzej Romek, chairman of the 10th Commercial Division of the District Court in Łódź, proposed mediation to the parties and ending the dispute through a court settlement, but the plaintiff's attorney, Adam Flaszewski, rejected such a solution. Therefore, the court began the trial by hearing witnesses.
People testifying in the trial: the former director of corporate communications and the head of the public and international relations office at Orlen, as well as assistants to the former president of Orlen, described to the court the procedure for purchasing gifts from Orlen, as well as the method of settling expenses using the payment card of the company's president.
They testified that gifts for the president's foreign visits were purchased by a company hired by the company, but it sometimes happened that gifts had to be purchased ad hoc for the president's unexpected meetings during foreign visits.
Attorney Adam Flaszewski, representing Orlen, questioned the validity of some purchases made by the former president of Orlen. This includes: for expenses paid with a business card in Kazakhstan, Prague or at Heathrow airport in London.
Orlen's representative pointed out that, for example, purchases paid for with Orlen's company card at London Heathrow Airport were made after business meetings and shortly before the plane's departure to Poland, which may indicate that the purchase was of a private nature.
The questionable expenses that Orlen is demanding from its former president also include: medical services or a stay in a hotel in Łeba.
Daniel Obajtek's attorney, attorney Dominik Hunek, said he was asking for the lawsuit against his client to be dismissed. – If we accepted the position of the plaintiff company, none of the managers who made business expenses from their card could be sure whether, after a change of power in the company, the next president would not come and demand proof that the expenses made by the predecessor were really business expenses – argued Hunek in an interview with PAP.
He added that he was showing in court that there were no grounds to demand a refund. – There is no reason to claim that these managers misappropriated any item purchased using company cards, and we are conducting evidentiary proceedings on this occasion – said Hunek. He added that his clients were, in any case, calmly waiting for the results.
After hearing some of the witnesses, the court decided to postpone the trial, and Judge Romek announced the continuation of the hearing of witnesses at subsequent hearings. Daniel Obajtek was not present during the trial in Łódź on Wednesday.
The Orlen Group is a multi-energy concern with refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, as well as a network of gas stations, including in Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. It is also developing the oil and natural gas extraction segment, the petrochemical segment, and renewable energy sources. It also plans to develop nuclear energy based on small SMR reactors. (PAP)
jus/ jann/ lm/
