Today, KGHM Polska Miedź announced that the Supervisory Board had dismissed Andrzej Szydło from his position as CEO and appointed Remigiusz Paszkiewicz in his place. The company issued the statement shortly after 12:00 p.m., but just a few hours earlier, the information had already been circulated by former Deputy Minister of State Assets, Robert Kropiwnicki. After he published the news, the company’s shares plummeted.
At 12:11 p.m. on Friday, the Polish Press Agency released a dispatch reporting the change in KGHM Polska Miedź S.A.’s management, announcing the dismissal of CEO Andrzej Szydło and Vice President Piotr Stryczek from his role as Corporate Vice President.
“Furthermore, the Supervisory Board of the Company has adopted a resolution to delegate a member of the Supervisory Board – Mr. Remigiusz Paszkiewicz – to temporarily perform the duties of CEO of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. and Vice President of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. for Corporate Affairs from January 30, 2026, until the conclusion of the qualification procedures for the positions of CEO of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. and Vice President for Corporate Affairs, but for no longer than three months,” the company reported in ESPI.
Interestingly, Robert Kropiwnicki, the former Deputy Minister of State Assets, had already posted this information publicly on social media two hours earlier, in an unmistakably critical tone.
“Today, the Supervisory Board of KGHM dismissed CEO Andrzej Szydło and Vice President Piotr Stryczek. This is a bad and incomprehensible decision by the newly appointed members of the board. This is very bad news for the company and the region. I would like to remind you that A. Szydło pulled the company out of a slump, started building three new shafts, managed to reduce the mining tax, and the entire company now has a record valuation of over 70 billion,” Kropiwnicki wrote at 9:47 a.m. on Friday.
Michał Czarnik, a legal advisor and Vice President of the Association YES for CPK, pointed out that this manner of sharing information creates numerous problems and consequences.
“The dismissal of the CEO of a publicly traded company like KGHM is a classic example of confidential information – that is, information that can influence the company’s stock price. To ensure equal access to such information, disclosure to third parties not specifically listed by the company in connection with their duties (in this case, e.g., members of the Supervisory Board, employees servicing the Supervisory Board, specifically appointed legal advisors) is prohibited before its official publication,” he emphasized.
He questioned whether Kropiwnicki was authorized to access KGHM’s confidential information, while asserting that “this is almost certainly impossible.”
“So where he got access to this information is unknown – he certainly should not have had it (assuming he is not on the mentioned list) before the company disclosed it transparently to all market participants,” Czarnik asked.
He noted that the information shared by Kropiwnicki affected KGHM’s stock, which had been falling since around 10:00 a.m. (from PLN 359.90 at 10:05 a.m. to PLN 334.80 at 11:15 a.m.). “And what kind of trouble could Mr. Robert Kropiwnicki face as a result? Well, revealing confidential stock market information is no trivial matter – the EU MAR regulation and the Act on Trading in Financial Instruments provide for severe fines and even a penalty of up to 4 years of imprisonment,” Czarnik added.
The situation at KGHM was repeatedly reported by TV Republika journalist and Gazeta Polska reporter Piotr Nisztor, who was threatened with a lawsuit by the company for his coverage.