Eureko in hot water over preferential data

Eureko, a Dutch minority shareholder in PZU, has been receiving detailed financial data concerning the entire PZU group for over two years. In 2004, an investor put forward a proposal for PZU to render data accessible to the entire group in order to facilitate the flow of information, Eureko's vice-president, Ernst Jansen, explained. The board of directors at the time passed the act and thereafter Eureko received unified data in 10-page reports, which included information about balance sheets, profit or loss accounts as well as about shares in dependent companies. Article 20 of the commercial code states that all shareholders should be treated equally in the same circumstances; in this case, for reasons as yet unclear, Eureko was the only company to receive these reports. PZU's president, Jaromir Netzel, found out about it by accident when he received a request for extension of a data processing contract from Ernst & Young. Jaromir Netzel made a prompt decision to end the Dutch company's receipt of further data. (Puls Biznesu, pp.4-5) H.D.