The Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) arrested Dariusz K. yesterday. He is the ex-deputy CEO of 4Media, a company which was engaged in stock exchange swindle in 2002. The manager was hiding for over 10 months and was searched with an arrest warrant. He is suspected to have committed 18 frauds and to have stolen several million zloty in two cases. Dariusz K. and his partners from 4Media, i.e. Wojciech K. (the ex-CEO) and Jacek M. (the chairman) will be tried on using secret information and manipulating news. They may be fined with PLN 5m and be jailed from 6 months to 5-8 years.
4Media was building a media empire in the years 2000-02. It based on Zycie daily and local dailies. The company invested too much and was unable to pay its debts. In 2002, it turned out that 4Media was trying to hide its real financial state, manipulated with news while its subsidiaries were running suspicious transactions. In result, the stock dived and 4Media went bankrupt. All three suspects used to be respected politicians in 1990ies. Jacek M. was a well-known anti-communist leader, a close ally to Lech Walesa and the co-founder of Citizens’ Platform (PO).
CBA said that Dariusz K. was responsible for misspending of PLN 30m by the companies from 4Media group and made other companies lose PLN 16m. Whether these allegations are true, will be decided by the court.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.283)