Notorious 'Art-B' fraudster arrested for money laundering
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
15.04.2014 09:07
A fraudster who was at the centre of one of the biggest financial scandals to hit Poland in its transition from communism has been arrested for allegedly laundering almost 3 million euros.
photo - PR
Boguslaw B. (full name withheld under Polish privacy laws) and his current business partner have been provisionally detained for three months.
Prosecutors in Warsaw believe that the 2.79 million euros came from allegedly fraudulent business dealings done by the pair in Switzerland.
The funds have been frozen on one of the company's bank accounts.
Bogluslaw B. has already served time in a Polish prison for crimes committed as an owner of Art-B, one of the most notorious companies to emerge in Poland following the collapse of communism.
Art-B, which had three owners, was set up in August 1989 with 100 dollars, and it began by selling Korean and German electronic goods. Within two years the company was worth 500 million dollars and had 15,000 employees.
However, it emerged that the company had been scamming banks by transferring funds from one bank to another so as to earn interest on the same money from several sources at one time.
The owners of the company fled to Israel in 1991, but in 1994 Boguslaw B. was arrested in Switzerland and extradited to Poland.
He was finally sentenced in 2000 to nine years in prison, although he was ultimately released in 2004.
Boguslaw B has now been provisionally detained for 3 months, while the investigation continues. (nh)
Source: TVN