PM to meet security officials over accusations against ex-Orlen CEO

2024-04-29 13:53 update: 2024-04-30, 16:14
Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell
Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell
Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, will hold conversations with the prosecutor general and the coordinator of the security agencies in connection to possible ties of the former head of Orlen, Poland’s biggest state-owned fuel company, to the terrorist organization Hezbollah.

On Monday the privately-owned news website Onet reported that Daniel Obajtek, Orlen's former CEO, had cooperated with Lebanese entrepreneur Samer A., who is suspected of connections to Hezbollah and illegal trade in Iranian petroleum.

According to Onet, Obajtek ignored the warnings of Orlen's interior security services, which supposedly had informed him of this before he decided to put Samer A. in charge of Orlen Trader Switzerland (OTS), Orlen's Swiss branch.

"In effect, Orlen lost PLN 1.6 billion (EUR 370 mln), which was revealed only after the Law and Justice (PiS) party lost power and Daniel Obajtek's was recalled," wrote Onet.

In response to these claims, Tusk announced on Monday that he had asked Adam Bodnar, the justice minister, and Tomasz Siemoniak, the coordinator of security agencies, for a meeting regarding the issue.

"Today I asked the prosecutor general and the coordinator of security agencies to pay me a visit regarding a matter crucial for the country’s security: the loss of over a billion zloty and the possible ties of the former head of Orlen with Hezbollah," he wrote on the X platform. "Poles need to hear the truth. No point in waiting."

In a statement sent to Onet, Obajtek said that he had had and continued to have complete trust in his associates. (PAP)
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