Jan Kulczyk

Regarding the Orlen investigation, the proceedings at the Prosecutors’ Office in Katowice commenced and the parliamentary investigative commission was appointed. Kulczyk was heard as a witness by the prosecutor's office four times (the last one in April 2008) and submitted extensive explanation to the parliamentary investigative commission. Due to lack of evidence, the Prosecutor's Office discontinued the proceedings.

After Jan Kulczyk's death in July 2015, his children became his successors. Dominika Kulczyk, as the Vice-President of the Supervisory Board of Kulczyk Investments, is responsible for international relations and the CSR projects. Sebastian Kulczyk has been serving as the Kulczyk Investments CEO since December 2013 and in August 2015 he replaced his late father place in the Supervisory Board of Ciech S.A.

Kulczyk died on 29 July 2015 in Allgemeines Krankenhaus der Stadt Wien in Vienna due to postoperative complications, and was buried in the family vault at the Jeżycki cemetery in Poznan, next to his father, Henryk Kulczyk (1925-2013).

In March 2014, he founded the Council of Polish Investors in Africa, an initiative formed to support Polish companies in establishing business relations on the African markets. The Council consists of representatives of the largest Polish companies and enterprises investing on this continent, including Ursus, Navimor, Asseco, Kulczyk Investments, Polpharma, Grupa Azoty, Krezus and Lubawa.

Kulczyk was the co-founder of the Polish Business Roundtable. He was also the Honorary Chairman of the German – Polish Chamber of Commerce.

In 2012, he donated PLN 20 million (4.76 million euros) to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews to co-found its core exhibition. It was the largest one-time donation ever made in Poland.

In 2012, the Forbes magazine put Kulczyk at the top of the richest businessmen in Poland ranking, with PLN 8.9 billion (2.1 billion euros). The same year, the Wprost magazine also put Kulczyk at the top of its ranking, assessing his wealth at PLN 9,7 billion. In 2013, the American edition of Forbes magazine rated Kulczyk 384th of the wealthiest people in the world, with a $3.5 billion worth fortune, making him the highest ranked Pole among the world's billionaires.

Kulczyk Investments created Polenergia, Poland's first private energy group with regional scope, operating in the sectors of energy generation, distribution and trading from conventional and unconventional sources. In 2011, the Kulczyk Group acquired a 100% share in Nowa Sarzyna Power Plant.

In 2010, in cooperation with Silverstein Properties Inc., Kulczyk Silverstein Properties was founded a join-venture company specializing in development of commercial real estate projects in Central Europe.

In 2010, he founded the CEED Institute, a think-tank promoting the development of Central and Eastern Europe region.

In 2009, company traded a 28% share in Kompania Piwowarska for a 3% share in SABMiller - the world's second biggest beer producer.

In February 2008, he was incorporated into confraternity of the Order of Saint Paul.

In 2007, Kulczyk reorganized the Kulczyk Holding Group into Kulczyk Investment House, later known as Kulczyk Investments.

Since June 2006, he was member of the Green Cross International Board of Directors - a UN-affiliated organization focused on ecological safety. Since 6 October 2007, he held the position of the Chairman of the Board.

Kulczyk was top ranked 13 times at the list of the 100 richest Poles issued by the Wprost magazine. In 2007, he was ranked 12th, due to his divorce from Grażyna Kulczyk. In 2015, Forbes ranked him 418th richest man in the world ($4 billion).

In 2004, Kulczyk was associated with to the Orlen Scandal. The parliamentary investigative commission report stated that Kulczyk could have considerable influence over operations and human resources politics of PKN Orlen, incommensurable to the share he held. Moreover, the report stated that Kulczyk met with the former KGB resident in Poland, Vladimir Alganov.

In 1981, Kulczyk founded his first company with money from his father Henryk. The Interkulpol joint-venture was one of the first international trade companies formed in Poland after the second world war. In 1988, Kulczyk became the official Volkswagen dealer in Poland. His first large-scale deal was a PLN 150-million (35.7 million euros) sale of 3,000 Volkswagen cars delivered to the Polish police and the security services in the early 1990s. In 1991, Kulczyk Holding a limited liability company was founded. In 1993, the company changed its legal form into a joint-stock company. Kulczyk held the post of the chairman of the supervisory board.

Kulczyk was divorced with two children from his marriage with Grażyna Kulczyk: Dominika (born 1977) and Sebastian (born 1980). After the divorce, Joanna Przetakiewicz was his long-time partner.

Kulczyk graduated from VI Jan i Jędrzej Śniadeccy Secondary School in Bydgoszcz in 1968. He studied law at the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan and foreign trade at the Poznań University of Economics and Business (then: Academy of Economics in Poznań). He received a doctorate in political sciences and international law in 1975.

Jan Jerzy Kulczyk (24 June 1950 – 29 July 2015) was a Polish billionaire businessman. He was the founder and owner of Kulczyk Holding (headquartered in Warsaw) and an international investment house Kulczyk Investments (former name: Kulczyk Investment House) with headquarters in Luxembourg and offices in London and Kiev. According to Forbes, Kulczyk was the richest Pole at the time of his death.