Boss of Polish investment fund PI a convicted fraudster – press
The founder and majority shareholder of SME bourse NewConnect-listed firm Progres Investment (PI), Pawel J., has been found to have previous convictions for fraud and money laundering, Polish daily Puls Biznesu reported, Oct. 3.
“Pawel J. was accused in 2001 of defrauding a Warsaw-based company of PLN 610,000 using a falsified invoice, and in 2000-02, while director general of advertising agency Jankes Studio, of laundering no less than PLN 11.5 mln by conducting fictitious business transactions associated with the sale of non-existent printing services,” Tomasz Adamski, spokesman for the Gdansk district court, stated, adding that “in 2006 the court found Pawel J. guilty of both crimes.”
As CEEInsight reported in June, Progres Investment has been under investigation by the organized crime unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation since March 2012 following allegations of fraud. The company released a statement that Pawel J. is not currently a member of the management board.
Questions have also been raised concerning oversight at NewConnect, since Pawel J. remained president of the company from its debut on the market in August 2011 until July 2012.
Progres Investment had been hoping to advance from the entry-level NewConnect market onto the Warsaw Stock Exchange, but the move has so far been delayed a year and a half. The company share price fell by 41.5 per cent between Sept. 19 and Oct. 09 2013. The management has decided not to release a forecast for this year.
