POLAND: ET/TELCO TAKES DEUTSCHE TELECOM TO COURT.

• Position: Elektrim Telekomunikacja - Brief Article

Elektrim Telekomunikacja (ET/Telco), in which Vivendi Universal (VU) holds a 49% stake, announced on November 23 that it is to take court action against Deutsche Telekom (DT) and the Polish company Elektrim to secure operational control of the mobile telephony operator PTC. In its petition, ET/Telco accuses DT and Elektrim of illegally seeking to deprive it of its associate rights as a 48% shareholder in PTC. ET/Telco highlights a ruling passed down in mid-November by the Warsaw commercial court which it claims officially allocates it 48% of PTC shares. Elektrim argues that the decision by the Warsaw court was not final since legal proceedings concerning the three companies are proceeding in Poland and several other European countries. ET/Telco chairman Philippe Houdouin called last week on "PTC's usurpers to leave the board peacefully and take with them their army of security agents and vigilantes". However, DT and Elektrim are maintaining their objection, according to a statement...