The Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into Jerónimo Martins on suspicion of fraud and exploitation related to the Biedronka chain of stores, which the Portuguese group owns in the country, according to the report. Express.
A complaint by the former chairman of the board of directors of the Zakłady Mięsn meat processing plant, Henryk Kania, who accuses the company of abusive practices with suppliers, triggered the investigation.
Kania accuses Jerónimo Martins of an “aggressive business model”, which exploits “producers and suppliers” and led “to bankruptcy a family company built over two generations”.
Jerónimo Martins, which has faced several lawsuits in Poland, where it has already had to pay several tens of millions of euros in fines, says it believes in Justice, while awaiting, “with serenity, the full investigation of the facts”.
The owner of Pingo Doce has a network of more than 3,700 Biedronka stores, the leading brand in food retail in Poland.