Profits no protection for Netzel

The PZU group could be on its way toward beating its 2005 result, when the firm became the first Polish insurance company to earn more than $1 (zł.3.03) billion. It made zł.1.53 billion in profit in the first half of this year, which represented a 4.6-percent increase from the zł.1.46 billion earned in the corresponding period of last year. PZU SA boasted a net profit of zł.907.2 million and PZU Życie added zł.640.5 million.

The company's president, Jaromir Netzel, predicts Grupa PZU should record profits of more than zł.3 billion in 2006. However, he underlined that the profit will depend on what the company decides to do with the losses of its subsidiaries in Ukraine and Lithuania.

Despite the group's positive financial standing, Netzel has much to worry about. The dark clouds that have been gathering over him refuse to go away. Ever since he replaced PZU's previous president, Cezary Stypułkowski, Netzel has been fighting accusations of a shady past.

Netzel was once an advisor to a company called Drob Kartel, which had been suspected of money laundering, and has himself been accused by the media of cooperating with a person accused of money laundering and fraud. At the beginning of August, Netzel refused to testify in front of a court in Gdynia about Drob Kartel, even though the court lifted the attorney-client privilege that Netzel claimed prevented him from giving his testimony.

However, Netzel is unlikely to be removed from his post, as he has found a defender in Treasury Minister Wojciech Jasiński. "There is nothing new which would point to Mr Netzel being at odds with the law," the Minister said.