Legal wrangle after Brits claim Polish partners in Allegro.pl acted illegally

The Poznań prosecutor's office is investigating the circumstances surrounding the takeover of Poland's largest Internet auction site, Allegro.pl, after representatives of British investor in the company QXL Ricardo claimed that their Polish partners illegally assumed ownership of 92% of shares in QXL Poland. On January 1st, 2001 QXL Poland's equity was raised from zł.4,000 to zł.50,000, in line with the new requirements of the Corporate Code. However, QXL Ricardo claims that after this transaction it was to retain full ownership of the Polish subsidiaries, while the Polish shareholders claim that the British firm wanted to give up control of the company, which was in poor financial condition at the time. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.17) T.J.