Claim of penalty by Agrofert
PKN ORLEN informs that on 9th May, the representative of PKN ORLEN received from the Prague Arbitration Court a second claim of contractual penalty filed by Agrofert Holding a.s. in Prague. The amount under dispute is EUR 77,266,500, plus interest.
In March this year it was reported in the media that Agrofert will lay a further claim. PKN, after taking into account the judgment of experts from Poland and the Czech Republic, denies any breach and will defend its rights vigorously. PKN ORLEN has consistently affirmed that all agreements have been carried out in a way which is allowed by both Polish and Czech law. The Group does not see any further basis to make any other claims against it. The arbitration proceedings are confidential and therefore we are not able to comment further.
In addition, PKN ORLEN underlines the fact that the subject of the agreements with Agrofert was made by the previous Board Management in 2003 and 2004, and is already subject to proceedings by the public prosecutor in Cracow. The current Management Board is cooperating fully with the public prosecutor in this case, based on the standpoint that every situation which might either appear suspicious, not clear, or suggest non-ethical behaviour, should be thoroughly researched and investigated.
