A Warsaw court has agreed to a request by life assurer PZU Życie to declare developer Metroprojekt bankrupt. The insurance company is owed USD24m dating back to a loan given to Metroprojekt in March 1999. The loan was given by the former head of the assurance company who has spent almost the past 18 months on remand awaiting the completion of an investigation into allegations of fraud against his former company. The investigation is not likely to conclude until after the New Year. Metroprojekt used most of this cash to buy the Universal office building in the centre of Warsaw near the intersection of ul. Marszałkowska and al. Jerozolimskie. The building was bought by Kraków based Code which had bought it the same day for PLN60m from Universal. The application for the bankruptcy of Metroprojekt was made in September when PZU Życie tried to call the loan in, possibly through a clause in the contract which protected the insurer against late payment of interest or justifiable risk of payment being made late. Metroprojekt has a good income stream from tenants in the building and probably did not pay interest late although the principal was due as from 2003. However the tax office has claims against it although Metroprojekt has another opinion.