PKP Cargo is pursuing legal action against its former management. The Polish state rail freight operator suspects its previous board of committing a crime that led to the company’s fragile financial situation. It also seeks to hold former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki responsible for policy harming PKP Cargo.
On 20 June, PKP Cargo turned to Warsaw’s prosecutor’s office in what seems to be an attempt to hold its former management accountable for the company’s troubled finances. According to a press release, PKP Cargo suspects its previous board of committing a crime. The freight operator says that the board failed to properly protect the company’s interests and act on a solid legal foundation, for which it carried responsibility.
The supposed failure to take responsibility for PKP Cargo’s interests followed a decision by former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The company says that Morawiecki likely overstepped his boundaries by drawing up a policy that obligated PKP Cargo to prioritise coal transport in July 2022, leading to significant losses for the company. The freight operator expresses doubt over the legal foundation of the damaging measure, and accuses the previous board of putting it into practice “without due diligence”.
In its notification to the prosecutor’s office, PKP Cargo also highlighted Morawiecki’s responsibility for bringing chaos to the company’s finances.
Obligation of the law
Marcin Wojewódka, current acting president of PKP Cargo’s board, says that the company is obligated to take legal action. “Reading the collected information leads to the conclusion that PKP Cargo undertook the implementation of the so-called coal decisions without due diligence in verifying the legal basis of the action and without adequate protection of the material interests of PKP Cargo, for which the then collegiate Management Board of PKP Cargo was responsible”, Wodewódka says.
“Also, the very manner of implementing the decisions in question caused significant material damage to the company. Therefore, there is an absolute necessity for the current Management Board of the company to submit a notification to the prosecutor’s office – this is an obligation resulting from the provisions of law”, he adds.
A rough patch
PKP Cargo is experiencing a rough patch, similar to many state-owned rail freight operators around Europe. The Polish company appears to have a budget hole of 1,17 billion euros, and its volumes and share value are following a steep downward trajectory.
When the current management board took office earlier this year, it was quick to assign inactive status to a third of its workforce, allowing it to reduce wages by 40 per cent and save money. The company expressed hope that a market revival would bring improvement to its business situation.
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