The Internal Security Agency (ABW) has entered the premises of Orlen, Poland's largest energy and fuel company, to secure evidence for the investigation into apparent irregularities in the merger between the state-owned Orlen and fuels firm Lotos.
On Wednesday, Monika Mieczykowska, the deputy district prosecutor, told PAP that “ABW officers are currently securing evidence at Orlen's offices in Płock and Warsaw, as well as in Gdańsk.”
“The searches concern all documents related to the merger of Orlen and Lotos Group,” she added.
The Orlen-Lotos merger was approved in July 2020 by the European Commission under the condition that certain divestments be carried out.
On January 12, 2022, PKN Orlen announced that it had decided to sell a 30 percent stake in Lotos's Rafineria Gdańska (Gdańsk Refinery) to the Saudi Arabian firm Saudi Aramco and 417 Lotos petrol stations in Poland to the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL.
But the deal has since been dogged by allegations of possible irregularities in the transfer of some of the refinery's shares to the Arab company and that Lotos was undervalued.
The Supreme Audit Office (NIK) audit revealed that Orlen sold the Lotos assets to Saudi Arabian firm Aramco for at least PLN 5 billion (EUR 1.2 bn) below their market value.
The District Prosecutor's Office launched a probe into the merger in January, but the company had not let any inspectors enter the company’s grounds.
“The searches concern all documents related to the merger of Orlen and Lotos Group,” she added.
The Orlen-Lotos merger was approved in July 2020 by the European Commission under the condition that certain divestments be carried out.
On January 12, 2022, PKN Orlen announced that it had decided to sell a 30 percent stake in Lotos's Rafineria Gdańska (Gdańsk Refinery) to the Saudi Arabian firm Saudi Aramco and 417 Lotos petrol stations in Poland to the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL.
But the deal has since been dogged by allegations of possible irregularities in the transfer of some of the refinery's shares to the Arab company and that Lotos was undervalued.
The Supreme Audit Office (NIK) audit revealed that Orlen sold the Lotos assets to Saudi Arabian firm Aramco for at least PLN 5 billion (EUR 1.2 bn) below their market value.
The District Prosecutor's Office launched a probe into the merger in January, but the company had not let any inspectors enter the company’s grounds.
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