The District Court for Warsaw-Śródmieście in Warsaw granted the requests of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw to apply pre-trial arrest for a period of three months to Samer A. and Marcin O., former members of the management board of OTS Switzerland Gmbh from the Orlen Group, the prosecutor's office announced on Monday. As explained, they are suspected of acting to the detriment of these companies.
“The court found that the evidence collected by the prosecutor provides a basis for assuming a high probability that the suspects committed the acts charged against them. At the same time, The court agreed with the prosecutor's argument about the need to use preventive isolation measures due to the suspects' hiding, as well as the fear of fraud and the realistic threat of severe punishment,” said prosecutor Mateusz Martyniuk, press spokesman for the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw.
As stated in the announcement, the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw is conducting an investigation into actions to the detriment of OTS Switzerland Gmbh and Orlen SA
“The evidence collected during the investigation allowed for the preparation of decisions to charge Samer A. and Marcin O. with harm to the companies OTS Switzerland Gmbh and Orlen SA damage in the amount of approximately USD 378 million, equivalent to approximately PLN 1.5 billion by concluding three unfavorable contracts for the purchase of crude oil in the period from August 21, 2023 to December 21, 2023 (296 § 1 and 3 of the Penal Code in connection with Article 306b § 2 of the Penal Code),” it was written.
“These charges were not announced to the suspects because their whereabouts are unknown and the evidence obtained indicates that the suspects are in hiding. The court's issuance of decisions on the temporary arrest of the suspects allows the prosecutor to start searching for the suspects with arrest warrants,” it added.
Oil supplies that didn't exist
Orlen in the first half of April this year. announced a loss of approximately PLN 1.6 billion by the previous management board of Orlen Trading Switzerland (OTS), a Swiss company belonging to the Orlen Group. These are advances paid to oil trade intermediaries. The largest amount of funds was to go to a 25-year-old from Hong Kong who had founded his own company in Dubai a few years earlier. Most deliveries were to be completed by the end of 2023, and the remaining deliveries by the end of January 2024. That didn't happen.
In mid-April this year. “Rzeczpospolita” wrote that the Internal Security Agency tried to block the appointment of Samer A as president of Orlen Trading Switzerland in 2022. The reason was suspected of Arab extremism.
The Onet portal informed about warnings also coming from Orlen's internal security services. These indicated that it came from Lebanon Samer A. is suspected of contacts with the terrorist organization Hezbollah and involved in illegal oil trade with Iran. “Obajtek ignored these warnings and placed Samer A. in charge of Orlen Trader Switzerland (OTS). As a result, Orlen lost PLN 1.6 billion, which became public only after PiS lost power and Obajtek was dismissed,” the portal reported.
Main photo source: MOZCO Mateusz Szymanski / Shutterstock