PKN Orlen boss deposed after 20 days - but who's next?

PKN Orlen shares reached a level close to their all-time high yesterday, as investors welcomed the news of dismissal of president Jacek Walczykowski, considered to represent the interests of tycoon Jan Kulczyk, a minority Orlen shareholder. Walczykowski was appointed barely 20 days ago, in a controversial move by Orlen's supervisory board, against the wishes of the State Treasury. The latter issued a statement expressing its dissatisfaction, that the board rejected all the candidates proposed and evaluated by a personnel consultancy, instead pulling Walczykowski out of a hat. For the time being, vice-president Janusz Wiśniewski will be at Orlen's helm, until the recently appointed supervisory board, dominated by the State Treasury, chooses a new president. According to Jacek Bartkiewicz, head of the board, this should take around 2-3 weeks. Speculation abounds, that the candidate may already have been chosen and that it could be Paweł Gricuk, who was mentioned as Prime Minister Marek Belka's candidate even before the dismissal of Walczykowski's predecessor, Zbigniew Wróbel. Although the same personnel consultancy, Korn/Ferry, will once again advise the supervisory board, some of the candidates from the previous shortlist say they are no longer interested. (Parkiet, p.1) T.J.