Shareholder accuses Elektrim board over Vivendi deal

Zbigniew Jakubas, owner of a 3% stake in Polish telecoms conglomerate Elektrim, has filed information with the prosecutor's office which he says implicates the company's management in criminal activities. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, Jakubas claims that through their actions a majority of supervisory board members and current chairman Waldemar Siwak are leading Elektrim into bankruptcy. In Jakubas' opinion, their actions have been to the advantage of French company Vivendi, owner of a 51% stake in Elektrim Telekomunikacja (ET), which is in turn a majority shareholder in Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC), operator of the Era GSM mobile phone network. According to Jakubas, under a deal agreed by the Elektrim management and Vivendi, in the event of Elektrim being declared bankrupt the ET assets would be sold to Vivendi at their book value, which would be significantly lower than their market value, estimated by former Elektrim vice-president Jacek Walczykowski at approximately euro 800 million. Jakubas accuses the Elektrim management of hiding this aspect of the agreement with Vivendi from the company's shareholders. "From the information at my disposal, it is apparent that Siwak signed the deal with Vivendi," said Jakubas on Friday. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Feb. 2-3, p. 28) M.T.K.