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Polish government to ‘restore trust in financial institutions’ after Amber Gold collapse

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 16.08.2012 16:48
Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk has said that his government will do everything to restore Poles’ trust in financial institutions after the collapse of a gold fund left around 50,000 clients owed 80 million zloty (20 million euros).

PM
PM Tusk under fire: photo - PAP/Radek Pietruszka

PM Tusk emerged from a meeting of the Financial Stability Committee, Thursday, saying that those responsible for the collapse of Amber Gold – which invested in precious metals and promised savers high interest in return, even though it operated without a banking licence – would be punished.

Tusk said that the government is drawing conclusions for the future about companies like Amber Gold, so as to “avoid the easy extortion of money and maintain trust in financial institutions”.

Amber Gold announced its insolvency last week after a low-budget airline it had invested in, OLT Express, was forced to end operations in July and banks shut down the lending company’s accounts.

Tusk under fire

The scandal around Amber Gold, whose founder Marcin Plichta has previous convictions for fraud, has affected the government directly, after it emerged that Donald Tusk’s son, Michal, worked for the OLT Express airline as a PR executive, as well as holding a post at the state-owned Lech Walesa airport in Gdansk, where Amber Gold is based.

In a magazine interview at the weekend, the 30 year-old Michal Tusk said that his father had warned him about working for the possibly unstable OLT Express airlines

Leader of the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) Leszek Miller has called for a parliamentary enquiry into the affair and asked why it was that Donald Tusk managed to warn his son about the possible consequences of working for the airline but failed to give a similar warning to Amber Gold’s 50,000 customers.

The customers, despite promises from founder Marcin Plichta that they will get their money back after he liquidates the company’s assets, stand little chance of seeing their money ever again, say banking experts.

All that glitters…

Meanwhile, Amber Gold, which is based in Gdansk, northern Poland, was also an investor in the forthcoming biopic of Lech Walesa, who has now distanced himself from the production.

“I didn't even know who was financing the film,” the former president and Solidarity leader has said, adding that he has “nothing to do with Amber Gold,” or with the film's director, Oscar-winning veteran Andrzej Wajda.

Walesa's comments come after MEP Jacek Kurski (Solidarity Poland) called on Wajda and Walesa to return the money invested in the film to Amber Gold's now dispossessed clients.

Walesa has stated that director Andrzej Wajda himself should take action.

“Wajda should do something... Wajda alone,” Walesa declared. “I'm not going to suggest anything to him,” he added..

“I do not wish for my name to be muddied. I firmly believe that Wajda is a decent man, and that he will clear my name,” the former president said.

Akson, the company that is producing the film, has acknowledged that Amber Gold is one of the sponsors of the film, but says that the sums allotted by each sponsor are confidential.

The entire budget for the film was over 15 million zloty (over 3.6 million euro).

Shooting has already been completed on the film, and post-production is under way. (pg/nh)

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