Falling upward
To mark the beginning of the new millennium, the WBJ has decided to create the first annual Felfele Bukott Awards. For those unfamiliar with this beautiful Hungarian expression, it means literally to have fallen upward. It is applied most often to persons who, after having failed somewhat spectacularly at their job, instead of being demoted, fired or publicly stoned, have managed to maintain their standing in life through a new, higher or equal-level appointment.
The WBJ's first Felfele Bukott honor goes to Andrzej Topinski, former president of the managing board of the nation's largest bank, Powszechna Oszczednosci Bank Panstwowy (PKO BP). Topinski was dismissed as president at the beginning of December for mismanagement. Specifically, he was cited for failure to adequately institute proper risk-assessment procedures, a practice that has led to the bank piling up bad loans. PKO BP's supervisory board was unable to get rid of Topinski completely, as his removal requires the approval of the Banking Supervision, which must sign off on changes to the management board of any bank. Not only did the Banking Supervision refuse to remove Topinski, but the watchdog was integral in his being appointed head of PKO BP's restructuring effort at the beginning of January. Go figure.
Our second Felfele Bukott award goes to the infamous Stanislaw Alot, former president of the beleaguered and often broke Social Insurance Office (ZUS). Alot's inability to manage the organization, collect ZUS taxes or even get a computer system installed to track payments caused parliamentarians to call for his firing last fall. Under his leadership, ZUS fell into such disarray (grandly in part because of the burden placed on it by pension reform and the subsequent cash outflows to private funds) that it had to borrow a total of zl. 2.6 billion ($634 million) in commercial loans last year and receive an additional zl. 4 billion ($975 million) in subsidies to meet pension payments. Such cash-management skills have put Alot in the running to be head of the national lottery, Totalizator Sportowy. Seems like a natural fit, really. Afterall, it was a gamble every month as to whether pensioners would receive their checks.
Under the old regime, the best way to be a diplomat was to fail spectacularly at a domestic post. The new system has brought little change here. Once in political circulation, it is easy to stay in the corridors of power. Take, for example, Janusz Tomaszewski, former interior minister, who this fall was removed from his post under suspicion that he once worked with the communist secret police. While the suspicions were never proved as actual collaboration, Tomaszewski was largely viewed as a not very good minister. However, he's not been out of a job for long. He now sits on the supervisory board of copper concern KGHM Polska Miedz, in which the Treasury Ministry is a major shareholder.
