Polish investment fund Black Lion submits complaint against demand for PLN 12mln by former criminal

Polish investment fund Black Lion submitted a complaint to court against a demand for PLN 12  mln made by alleged gangster Janusz G., pseudonym ‘Graf,’ the Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reported June 10.

“The investigation pertains to article 191, which deals with the use of illegal threats, in order to force certain actions,” Dziennik Gazeta Prawna wrote. “The demand for PLN 12 mln for Janusz G., ‘Gra,f’ is what is behind the notion of certain actions in this case.”

Black Lion CEO Maciej Wandzel stated that the case is a side- effect of a transaction to acquire investment fund NFI Zachodni, which took place in 2006. NFI Zachodni was run by infamous businessman, Janusz L., at the time. It managed several lucrative real estate properties in Warsaw. Part of the shares in one of these properties belonged to ‘Graf.’

An arbitrage court ruled to have the shareholders compensated, before the real estate assets were seized. Janusz G. was supposed to have received the equivalent in value of his stake.

‘Graf,’ who spent time in prison for financial swindles, got out of jail in the Spring of 2012 and hired local lawyer Marek Malecki to get PLN 12 mln from Wandzel – the sum be believes was owed to him from the NFI Zachodni deal.

“My employer [Graf] is determined (…) to inform the mass media, which will undoubtedly be interested, (…) of the irregularities in the functioning of the fund,” Malecki wrote in a statement to Black Lion, according to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Wandzel took this statement to be an attempt at blackmail and launched his own legal action.

‘Graf,’ who is often referred to in the media as one of the mafia’s chief financiers, was allegedly hired NFI Zachodni’s former boss Janusz L. to kidnap and murder a stock broker Piotr Glowala. Janusz L. subsequently fled the country to avoid possible prosecution, while ‘Graf’s’ financial swindles were exposed and he went to prison.

Wandzel maintains that he has no ties with Janusz L beyond the 2006 acquisition of NFI Zachodni.

This is the latest chapter in the long running scandal surrounding the notorious former head of state insurer PZU, Grzegorz Wieczerzak, who spent some three years in prison. The brutal murder of Glowala was reportedly a scare tactic used by former prison-mate Janusz L. after the two fell out.