Court reinstates Zdrzalka at PZU helm as feud continues

Warsaw district court reinstated Jerzy Zdrzalka as president of Poland's largest insurer, Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (PZU), after he had been dismissed from the post two weeks ago. This is yet another development in the continuing feud between the Treasury, which holds a 56% stake in PZU, and the Eureko/BIG BG consortium, which controls 30% of the insurer. On November 13, the Treasury dismissed four members of the PZU supervisory board who were appointed by Eureko and then proceeded to recall Eureko-favored Zdrzalka from his post. Eureko filed a court protest, claiming that by removing its appointees to the supervisory board, the Treasury had broken the privatization agreement. The court's decision to reinstate Zdrzalka is only meant to protect the interests of Eureko until the matter is resolved; it does not necessarily mean that the Treasury had indeed broken the agreement. (Gazeta Wyborcza, November 25-26, p.28) T.J.