Talk:Orlengate
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The Times (London) November 27, 2004
How tycoon went from polo lawns to Polish jail By Giles Whittell and Kamil Tchorek in Warsaw
A YEAR ago Marek Dochnal was known in Monte Carlo as a suave and wiry entrepreneur with talents for deal-making and yoga. In London he was hardly known at all.
Mr Dochnal has since embarked on an estimated £5.3 million spending spree that propelled him to the heart of the British polo establishment — a place many would regard as the epicentre of glamour and business networking.
Not since Kerry Packer in the 1980s has an outsider conquered the great lawns and champagne tents of the shires so swiftly, polo watchers say.
And never has a newcomer vanished so abruptly: Mr Dochnal is now in jail.
His assault on polo’s social high ground began with the £2.65 million purchase of a farm in Argentina and a string of 40 ponies now out to grass in Berkshire. He also hired two of the world’s top players, rented a discreet brick mansion on the private Wentworth Estate, sponsored the Royal Windsor Cup at the Guards Polo Club to the tune of £100,000 and, unlike Roman Abramovich, held his own while playing alongside his expensive protégés at the highest level.
Mr Dochnal, 48, was arrested in September, aboard a rented executive jet. Arriving from Farnborough at Balice airport in Cracow, southern Poland, he was surrounded by Polish security forces. According to local reports he was led away after a two-hour stand-off when he refused to leave the plane.
The former academic, who described himself in a recent interview with Poland Monthly as “an interface between Poland and the captains of world industry”, has been denied bail and is being held in Lodz, eastern Poland, initially for three months.
Officials are investigating allegations that he bribed Andrzej Peczak, a senior member of the ruling centre-left coalition, with a Mercedes limousine on behalf of a Russian client seeking political backing for an oil privatisation deal.
This week it emerged that the bribery allegation may be part of a wider investigation that has already tarnished the reputation of President Kwasniewski of Poland.
According to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Mr Dochnal’s arrest followed the release of 160 taped phone calls to a parliamentary committee investigating the so-called Orlengate scandal in which £40 million in bribes were allegedly paid to senior Polish politicians by Russian energy giants competing for Polish projects.
A spokesman for Mr Dochnal said that no formal charges had been brought. Asked about the claim of a Mercedes bribe, the spokesman added: “Mr Dochnal denies that completely. He also denies acting illegally or improperly in this matter. He has known Andrzej Peczak socially and professionally for a considerable period and lent him the car. Any allegations of impropriety are completely wrong.”
Mr Dochnal was in good spirits and allowed to see lawyers and his family, the spokesman said. “He’s working out and learning Spanish.”
Mr Dochnal’s Larchmont Capital group has previously represented Lakshmi Mittal, the London-based steel tycoon whom Tony Blair backed in his efforts to buy the Romanian Sidex steel plant two years ago. Larchmont earned substantial fees for its role last year in the biggest privatisation in Polish history, of the PHS steel group — now a subsidiary of Mr Mittal’s LNM Holdings.
An LNM spokesman said the company had “no knowledge of the allegations” against Mr Dochnal, adding: “The LNM Group maintains the highest standards of corporate governance and business practice throughout its global operations. The company’s purchase of PHS was conducted in accordance with these standards.”
Mr Dochnal cut an unprecedented dash during his brief appearance on the British polo scene. In June the Polish tycoon not only stood next to the Queen at the Royal Windsor Cup awards ceremony in June, he also performed creditably as a member of his high-goal team.
“It was incredible,” a spokeswomen for the Guards Club said. “Polo is his passion. He suddenly found this was what he wanted to do in life. High-goal polo is scary stuff, but he kept up and played very well.”
Publicly at least, the club that afforded Mr Dochnal his entry into high-goal polo remains unbothered. “It’s business as usual as far as the Guards Polo Club is concerned,” the spokeswoman said. “Mr Dochnal is innocent until proven guilty. He remains a member and we are very happy to have him.”
Mr Dochnal saw his first pukka in Gstaad seven years ago, on snow. Never having ridden, he told his wife, Alexandra, that he would learn to play. Three years later he met the British professional Jack Kidd, who helped to establish a team named after the tycoon’s Larchmont investment group.
Under Mr Kidd’s guidance the team won 19 of its first 20 tournaments, including the St Tropez Gold Cup, last summer. On the strength of this success, Mr Dochnal resolved to move up to the high-goal game — the Premiership of polo. Bautista Heguy, the world number two, and “Piki” Diaz Alberdi, both from Argentina, were hired, reportedly on salaries of $1 million (about £530,000) and $500,000 respectively.
Some British admirers still call Mr Dochnal charming and passionate. Critics say that he uses friends, in business as in polo. One said of his plight: “Not too many people are going to feel sorry for him.”
