WARSAW (Reuters) – The new management team of Polish refiner Orlen has asked prosecutors to probe its accusations that former members of the management and supervisory boards of the company acted against its interests, private Radio Zet reported on Monday.
The investigation, requested in a motion to prosecutors, would be the latest related to the company, after prosecutors started examining whether it artificially lowered prices ahead of a 2023 election and sold assets at below fair value.
Radio Zet recently reported that Polish special services were investigating whether Orlen Trading Switzerland (OTS), a unit of the refiner, had breached sanctions on the import of oil from Russia or Iran. The company denies having done so.
Orlen had earlier said OTS would have a 1.6 billion zloty ($394.40 million) writedown of prepayments it made for oil and refining products, as it did not receive the products by the agreed deadline. The reimbursement of the prepayments has been assessed by OTS as unlikely, Orlen said.
The notification reported by Radio Zet on Monday regards abuse of power and failure to fulfill duties by board members “through the transfer of assets to Orlen Trading Switzerland, contrary to the company’s interests, and failure to control the procedures relating to the disposal of Orlen’s assets”.
($1 = 4.0568 zlotys)
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Jan Harvey and Paul Simao)
