PZU Zycie in scandal surrounding sale of building

Yesterday police from the Central Investigation Office (CBS) detained Elzbieta S., Vice-Director of the Supervisory Department at the Finance Ministry, in connection with possible criminal activity related to the sale of Warsaw's Universal building. Prosecutors allege that in March 1999, Elzbieta S. and Tomasz L., as members of the board of directors at the formerly stock exchange-listed Universal, sold Universal's head office for zl. 60 million to Krakow-based Code. On the same day Code sold the building to Metro-Projekt, also based in Krakow, for as much as zl. 96 million. Prosecutors accused Elzbieta S. and Tomasz L. of "causing great damage" to Universal. Life insurance firm PZU Zycie has also been caught up in the scandal. Grzegorz Wieczerzak, former President of PZU Zycie, had assigned a $24 million loan to Metro-Projekt for the purchase, despite the fact that Metro-Projekt did not have sufficient guarantees to justify such a loan. Wieczerzak decided to postpone repayment for the real estate purchase until March 2004 after the company failed to make $1.5 million in interest payments. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A4) P.W.