Polish pyramid scheme linked to attempt to bankrupt national airline: minister
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
29.06.2017 14:49
The Amber Gold pyramid scheme was involved in an attempt to run Poland's national LOT airline into bankruptcy, Interior Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said on Thursday.
A Boeing 787-8 plane in LOT Polish Airlines livery. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Adrian Pingstone/Public Domain
A parliamentary commission is probing the scheme, which had promised customers high returns on investments in gold before folding in August 2012.
According to criminal records, 19,000 customers were swindled out of a combined sum of PLN 851 million (EUR 200 million) at the time.
The head of the commission investigating the scandal has said that Amber Gold’s OLT Express airline subsidiary was used to launder money.
OLT Express – which operated for just a few months in 2012 – was “probably used to launder a total of PLN 300 million [EUR 72 mln]”, said Małgorzata Wassermann, the head of the commission.
Speaking to public broadcaster TVP, Błaszczak said that under the current government in Poland, such a scandal would not have erupted.
“The Amber Gold affair is related – to me it is quite obvious – to an attempt to bring down national carrier LOT,” Błaszczak said. (rg/pk)
Source: PAP