The regional prosecutor's office in Warsaw accused local businessman Leszek Czarnecki of fraudulent activities amounting to more than 130 million zlotys against Idea Bank SA clients who purchased bonds of debt collector GetBack SA prior to its 2018 collapse.

The prosecutors requested a Warsaw court to issue a warrant for the temporary arrest of the banker, who currently remains abroad.

According to the prosecutors, Czarnecki failed in his duties as the supervisory board chairman of Idea Bank when he allowed the lender to sell GetBack bonds to retail clients. The prosecutors also claim he was aware that the bank did not have the required permission to conduct such activities and that clients were misled when purchasing the bonds with regard to the safety and profitability of their investments.

Czarnecki is a key shareholder at Idea Bank and its sister unit Getin Noble Bank SA, with both lenders experiencing financial problems and struggling with capital shortfalls. Idea Bank was previously fined by Poland's Office of Competition and Consumer Protection for misselling practices with regard to GetBack bonds.

Thousands of Polish retail clients acquired GetBack bonds from Idea Bank and other financial intermediaries before the debt collector collapsed in 2018, and have not retrieved 2.5 billion zlotys of invested funds. GetBack reached a restructuring agreement with its creditors in January 2019, under which it plans to repay part of the debt owed to retail holders within eight years.

As of Sept. 18, US$1 was equivalent to 3.76 Polish zlotys.