Gov't accused of hypocrisy in arranging stakes in state-owned companies

Deputy Treasury Minister Barbara Misterska on Friday presented parliament with information on property owned by the state treasury, adding that it is very difficult to estimate it's exact value, which she put at around zl. 134 billion. This information was supplemented with a so called "Transparency Report" which described 22 state-owned companies. The report includes descriptions of various irregularities and failed investments in these companies during the tenure of Jerzy Buzek's government. Janusz Lewandowski from the Civic Platform (PO) complimented the government on presenting such reliable information but went on to say, "There is a tendency to capitalize some state-owned companies with minority stakes in other state-owned c ompanies. The former opposition had severely criticized the capitalization of PZU, PKO BP and Polish Airlines LOT, but once it formed the government, it started to do exactly the same with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego and BGZ. Such allocation of minority stakes have the result of decreasing their value". (Gazeta Wyborcza, May 11-12, p. 27) A.Z.