NIK investigates commission payments to Ton Agro for Gov't land sales

The Supreme Board of Inspection (NIK) suspects that corruption took place du ring the sale of property of the State Treasury Agricultural Property Agency (AWRSP) through the Ton Agro company. NIK has labeled as "unjustified and mi smanaged" AWRSP's three-year investment, under which it invested zl. 148 mil lion in Ton Agro. According to NIK, Ton Agro and its affiliate companies, "k ept receiving commissions disproportionately higher than the born costs," fo r sale of land contributed by, or purchased from, AWRSP. One example of Ton Agro's deals was selling attractive land located next to the A4 highway near Wroclaw as rural land, on behalf of the AWRSP, for zl. 20.9 million. The lan d's new owners quickly resold it to the French Auchan retail chain for zl. 5 3.4 million. Ton Agro's commission from AWRSP for that transaction was zl. 5 .58 million. NIK claims that Ton Agro's concessions, amounting to 12.5%, are on average four times the standard concession of real estate agencies. Other examples of Ton Agro activities questioned by NIK include donations amountin g to over zl. 1 million and also the company's investment in non-agricultura l sectors, such as development. NIK carried out the investigation at the pet ition of independent Sejm deputy Zbigniew Nowak. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. B1, 2) M.T.