On 19 March, issue 67 of “Trybuna” published an extensive article by Cezary Rudziński entitled “Following the NIK Inspections”. It included a substantial passage concerning the issue of irregularities and abuses at the local Bank Spółdzielczy, which outraged Bolesławiec residents and from which those affected managed to recover their savings only with considerable difficulty. We quote an excerpt of the publication entitled: “They Paid Themselves” .
“ The NIK Delegation conducted a ‘complaints-based’ inspection (based on complaints submitted – editor’s note) of Bank Spółdzielczy in Bolesławiec, with particular attention to its lending policy in 1990–94. It was established that the bank’s management, together with its president and with the approval of the then supervisory board, repeatedly made economic and financial decisions unfavorable to the bank, particularly concerning loans. This resulted in a loss of more than 96 billion old złotys and in the NBP president’s application for the bank’s bankruptcy.
Your hair stands on end when you read how the people responsible for the bank’s money worked. The management granted loans in a highly unprofessional manner, exceeding acceptable risk: without analyzing applicants’ assets or the economic standing of the enterprise for which the loan was granted – often on the very day the application was submitted.
The loan documentation sometimes lacked documents, or they had no signatures or stamps and contained numerous inconsistencies; there were even blank forms. The only ‘security’ for loans often worth many billions was a loan agreement signed by the spouses. Guarantees were accepted from people related to the borrowers, as well as from people in debt. The rule requiring immediate repayment of a loan when it was used for purposes other than those specified in the agreement was not observed. The bank’s management, on the other hand, took great care of... themselves.
The Chairman of the Supervisory Board was indebted for 6,340 million old złotys and had repaid only 6% of the loan taken out. His security was an agreement he had signed jointly with his wife. The bank’s president received a loan on very favorable repayment terms. Three months after the NBP president’s application to declare the bank bankrupt, his debt amounted to 996 million old złotys. Another member of the management, who was behind on repayment of 1.969 million old złotys, was granted several repayment concessions, while the guarantors of the new agreements concerning the conversion of the debt were... the remaining members of the management.
In its post-inspection submission to the Bank’s Supervisory Board, the NIK Delegation called, among other things, for consideration of the possibility of pursuing compensation in court from those responsible for the losses, or notifying the prosecutor’s office of the crime committed. It also called for more radical and effective measures to collect from debtors the arrears due, together with interest.”
The matter is far from settled. We will return to it in the pages of “Głos”.