More board members come under investigation in PZU fraud case

The circle of suspects in an alleged top-level fraud in Poland's leading insurer PZU widened on Wednesday when prosecutors put two men, one current and one former PZU management board member, under formal investigation. Piotr Kowalczewski and Jacek Berdyn were detained on Tuesday by officers of the Central Investigation Office (CBS). The investigation concerns real estate purchases by PZU Development. "In the Justice Ministry a meeting of people connected with proceedings related to PZU was held. Decisions regarding further steps in this investigation will be taken at top level," said a lawyer connected with the Warsaw prosecutors office. State-owned PZU earlier said that police searched the office of board member Piotr Kowalczewski on Tuesday for documents related to the case. Today, PZU deputy chairman Antonio da Costa is to be interrogated. Treasury Minister Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek has expressed his concern with the investigation and wants PZU to get over this dark period in its history before it is sold to Dutch based Eureko. (Reuters; Puls Biznesu, p. 5), M.T.