Gazeta Wyborcza cleared by Securities Commission

The securities regulator has cleared Agora executives of wrongdoing after investigating a series of December share sales. "The commission analyzed the sales and found...that they did not violate the law, specifically that they were not based on confidential information," the Securities and Stock Exchange Commission said in a statement. Regulators had launched a routine inquiry after CEO Wanda Rapaczynska and deputy CEO Piotr Niemczycki sold shares in December, just before Agora's flagship daily Gazeta Wyborcza said the company had been asked to pay a $17.5 million bribe. Agora's share price was hit in the scandal that resulted when Gazeta ran a transcript of a secretly recorded meeting at which film-maker Lew Rywin allegedly asked for the bribe. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7; Reuters) J.K.