In the spotlight: Igor Chalupec

First, Orlen and Yukos International finally agreed that the Polish company would take over the majority of shares in Lithuanian refinery Mazeikiu no later than the end of February 2007. Then the oil company's third-quarter results were released - the zł.1.03-billion profit was 4.5 percent higher than in the corresponding period last year.

Then the bad news came. The president of the supervisory board, Maciej Mataczyński, announced his resignation due to an ongoing conflict with the Treasury Ministry. As he explained, he was the only member of the supervisory board to oppose the resignation of Chalupec, claiming the president and the board are doing a good job.

On Thursday, Deputy Treasury Minister Paweł Szałamacha claimed that "Chalupec's mission is coming to an end." However, the next day in an official statement, the Ministry  denied that Chalupec would be dismissed at the next meeting of the supervisory board on November 22.

Chalupec has been the president of PKN Orlen since September 2004. He has a degree in economics from the Warsaw School of Economics and a degree in law from Warsaw University. He is also a licensed stock broker. Prior to working at Orlen, Chalupec worked at Bank Pekao SA, where he was director of the bank's brokerage center, and later sat on the bank's management board.