The Warsaw Stock Exchange operator GPW shareholders Thursday
dismissed WSE CEO Ludwik Sobolewski for allegedly abusing his position and appointed his deputy Adam Maciejewski as the new president of the stock exchange on the motion of the Treasury Ministry.

At issue are allegiations that Sobolewski had leveraged GPW resources to garner financial support from listed firms for a film in which his partner was starring.

Poland's Treasury Ministry had ordered an audit of the matter in early January. While recent leaks of that audit in the media cleared Sobolewski of such direct financing efforts, the WSE board expressed its disapproval of the situation calling Sobolewski’s activities "violated business ethics".

The Financial Times called Sobolewski one of Poland’s most successful chief executives. “Mr Sobolewski’s dismissal marks a dramatic fall from grace for a man who helped turn the WSE into the largest bourse in the region, eclipsing its longtime rival in Vienna and aiming to overtake larger stock exchanges in Istanbul and Scandinavia.” FT wrote on Thursday.

The motion to dismiss Sobolewski was passed on 36.527 million votes, with 49,970 votes against.

The appointment of Maciejewski was received with big applause from the assembly.

“I have learnt all about the stock exchange from Wieslaw Rozlucki [WSE’s first president] and I would like to thank him for this,” Maciejewski said after the appointment. He also thanked Sobolewski for six years of cooperation.

Maciejewski has been with the WSE since 1994, as Director of Trading Department and Director of Trading and Market Development Department, among others. He joined the management board in 2006, where he was responsible for the derivatives and structured products market, transaction systems, technology, trading and data vending.

The Treasury refrained from announcing a contest for a new CEO as the incumbent board's term of office will soon expire any way, the ministry wrote in a press statement.

"Starting the procedure . . . now with a view to having to repeat it in a few months as the 2010-2014 term of office expires would not give GPW the kind of publicity that would present it in its role as market coordinator," the ministry wrote. "It's high time that GPW returns to economic press . . . on account of achievements in developing the company and the capital market."

The procedure of selecting a CEO for the next term of office will start at the beginning of 2014, the ministry added.