Balikot creditors speak out. “This is a worse scam than Amber Gold.”

I spoke to Paweł and Tomasz on the evening of Friday, October 20, immediately after Janusz Palikot’s webinar, during which the businessman demanded an arrangement and reacted nervously to creditors’ questions. Defending the arrangement proposal, he said: “In fact, I am asking for less PiS thinking, but more Euro-liberal liberal thinking.”

Mr Powell says that while watching the businessman’s speeches on YouTube, he felt he was being lied to – Mr Pallicott saying one thing, then another. During a recent webinar, he claimed that PLN 80 million in loans went partly to finance Manufaktura. Today he said it was for goods whose whereabouts he did not know – he comments.

– Balikot continues to blame the war in Ukraine, glass prices, Covid-19 and PiS, but PiS ruled for 8 years, Covid started in 2020 and ended, and the war in Ukraine has been going on for more than a year. “That’s how it was when I gave him the loans,” Tomáš says.

My interlocutor belongs to a group of 10 victims who began to cooperate more closely after establishing contact in the 900-person Facebook community “Bunt Inwestorów Palikot.” They both had contracts with Tenczynek Dystrybucja, a company owed PLN 80 million, which was supposed to sell products manufactured by Manufaktura Piwa Wódki i Wina. The money was raised as part of the ‘Balikot Investments’ and ‘Financial Mutiny’ loan drives. Participants were expected to receive high interest, but the company began having problems paying it at the end of April. Paweł invested PLN 35,000 at one time. Zloty. Tomek participated in two fundraising campaigns worth PLN 20,000 each. Zloty.

– 35 thousand PLN is a lot of money, but I don’t attach myself to it. But I know that for some people it was their life savings and they were really having trouble. I heard that someone invested the money he was saving to buy a wheelchair because he thought he would save more money to buy better equipment. Several people loaned the company PLN 200,000 each. PLN and nothing left – Paweł comments.

– I could have bought another car, new furniture, anything. I could have gone for 40,000. PLN for flights, now I ask for my money back. I took into account that the profit might not be as high as the promised 13%, but these proposals were not high enough to cause concern – according to Tomáš’s reports – Palikot himself said in one of the recordings: “I could have gotten a loan from the bank, for this” I will It works on its own, and here I am giving people the opportunity to earn money, and at the same time, they will organize a promotion for me – they will learn about these products and advertise them. “And indeed it was so.

Both of Tenczynek Dystrybucja’s creditors admit that they do not have a detailed plan or high hopes. They are consulting lawyers but don’t think they will get all their money back. They care about justice. – We want the people responsible, including Janusz Palicut, to go to prison – says Powell.

Tenczynek Dystrybucja investors feel that no one will want to bail out the distribution company, which has PLN 80 million in debt and no assets. As they claim, citing private conversations with Marek Maslanka, he is also not interested in her. According to Paweł, the company was responsible for most of the collections conducted for the Janusz Palikot alcohol company. The number of its creditors is more than 2,000 people.

How do they evaluate the rankings?

Paweł and Tomasz were among the second group of creditors of Tenczynek Dystrybucja, i.e. among the people who invested PLN 10.9 thousand. PLN up to 200 thousand PLN. This means that as per the proposed Balikot Arrangement, they will receive a 35% return of capital in 120 instalments, the repayment of which will begin one year after the conclusion of the agreement.

In other words, if the arrangement pays off, the company’s creditors will receive a return of just over a third of the money paid without any interest after 11 years. The rest of the capital will be converted into shares. According to the previous version, they had to receive 10% of the capital. Tomasz calls the suggestion embarrassing. Paul points out that she may be very evil on purpose.

We have the impression among the creditors that everything is due to the unacceptability of the arrangement. “So that Palikot can come out later and be able to say, ‘I tried, but bad creditors blocked me, and even though I wanted to pay everything back, I’m forced to close this company,'” says Powell. – In fact, he’s not even president. For this company, he is even a member of its board of directors. The chairman of the board is Mr. Bobrowicz, who, frankly, is such a pimp that he does not even comment on these matters.

Why did they give loans?

– I had some savings, no loan, I had an apartment, and I could cover my expenses. High inflation came and I wanted to invest somewhere. Then I came across an advertisement for Palikot Investment. He created Polmos, famous brands, he was one of the richest Poles, then he entered politics, it was the way it was, we don’t have to comment on it, and he came back to start a new project – enumerates Tomasz. – I had a feeling that he was creating something like Bullmoss, only in a modern version. And you know: Kuba Wojciudzki, Magdalena Gessler, there was also Błachowicz somewhere on the website, and a lot of celebrities. This made the projects seem fair and confident.

It was the same with Paul. He knew and loved Manufaktura’s products – he was invested in Palikot’s brand and personality, he adds – “in a way to play with it”. He says he did not check the company’s financial situation, but the business seemed credible and the returns were attractive. Paweł also remembers the words of Palikot, who emphasized that the idea behind the groups was a titular “financial rebellion”, that is, bypassing the banks and paying interest to the investors involved in the development of the brewery.

Warning lights appeared. Powell has not taken advantage of the upcoming loan offer from the beginning of 2023, although he has received numerous calls and messages regarding this matter. Before signing the contract, Tomasz pointed out that it was not signed by Janusz Palicut, but by Przemyslaw Bobrović (according to the National Court registry, he is the chairman of the board of directors of Tenczyńska Dystrybucja). – It worried me a little then, but I thought: “Damn, maybe the man will take care of it,” – says Tomáš. He later determined that the company had not kept its word regarding securing loans. Of the more than 2,000 creditors of Tenczynek Dystrybucja, only a small percentage have received any confirmation, he says.

– I contacted the Wroclaw-based company Dgfp Security Administrators and asked them what it looked like. One employee told me that there is no such agreement – says Thomas – firstly, that contracts where something is secured with weak trademarks, and secondly, that such contracts are not concluded. In the case of the “Financial Mutiny” none of them were implemented, and in the case of the “Balikot Investment” none of them were implemented. Recently, Palikot admitted on YouTube, where we asked him about it, that the guarantees are invalid, but stressed that he will honor them (laughter).

Do they feel cheated?

We feel that we participated in an organized operation whose goal was to steal money. We do not have access to financial documents. I was unable to find the latest reports on Tenczynek Dystrybucja on the website of the National Court Registry. 80 million Polish zlotys have disappeared, and we don’t really know where – answers Pawel.

-We were involved in some form of fraud, but not a pyramid scheme, and I’ll explain why. In a financial pyramid scheme, for example at Amber Gold, the early investors have already made money. And no one is here. Even these people from the first editions of “Inwestycje Palikot” did not get their contributions back. So this is a worse scam than the Amber Gold scam – Tomáš comments.

The bailiff and more loans

According to an entry in the books of the National Court Registry of Manufaktura Piwa Wódki i Wina, the bailiff attempted to seize the shares and property of Janusz Palikot at the end of August 2022. The execution amount was supposed to be PLN 15 million, and at the same time “investment offers” were sent to creditors In 2023. In the spring, another version of the “Palikot Rebellion” occurred, i.e. a loan operation conducted by Tenczynek Dystrybucja which was investigated by the Lower Silesian Prosecutor’s Office.

Bankier.pl received from one of the interviewers a PDF file entitled “Quarterly Report of Manufaktura Piwa Wódki i Wina 3Q2022”, which was attached to the high-interest loan offer. Received by our contact in January 2023. The “Report” was signed on 14 November 2022 by Janusz Palicut. It does not contain accurate financial data. You can read about the increased sales, successes of alcohol brands, “creating a co-investor community of over 7,000 people” and subsequent projects.

The report attached to the loan offer differs from the Manufaktura Piwa Wódki i Wina report, which Marek Maslanka submitted a month ago. Maslanka’s report contains more figures, although no auditor has signed off on it either. We would remind you that it covered the period from January 1 to December 31, 2022, and it appears that the company made a profit only thanks to the separation and sale of the sector responsible for the production of hard alcohol. Last year, Manufaktura lost PLN 20.8 million in sales, and other companies of the Tenczyn group also recorded losses.

The names of the interviewees have been changed.