Sur5.net loses license on charge of financial irregularities
The Securities and Stock Exchange Commission (KPWiG) has revoked the license
of brokerage house Dom Maklerski Sur5.net, after it was revealed that
significant sums of money had disappeared from its customers' accounts. The
KPWiG, while declining to offer any details of its decision, stated that it
was accusing the company of irregularities in brokerage activities. In one
case, chemicals concern Ciech and its subsidiary Soda Matwy discovered that
their money had been transferred abroad without their knowledge. Commenting
on the issue, member of the Ciech board Robert Balabanow said that at the
beginning of the year the company received a phone call from the president
of Sur5.net asking whether they had any financial surplus they wished to
invest. "We had money, which was earmarked for investments. But the date of
the transaction was not known, and that is why we put money in the Sur5.net
account," Balabanow said. It was only in September, when Ciech ordered a
statement of account, that it learned that the money was abroad.
(Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B5) P.J.
