The internet auction site has had limited sucess in the UK

A solicitor for QXL Poland signed the company over to its local managing director through the illegal issue of 92% of its shares.

Prezemyslaw Rogowski has now been found guilty on all six counts of breach of professional ethics.

The case still continues and the company has not got its shares back yet

There is no hearing date for the main civil case yet. The current case centres on the role the solicitor played in signing over the shares and it seems likely that proceedings will drag on for some time yet.

Defrauded

The Polish courts are waiting for an independent valuation of QXL Poland, which will allow prosecutors to estimate the value of the fraud.

Commenting on the ruling against Mr Rogowski, company secretary Tom Parkinson said: "In terms of the message that this sends out to the legal system and to the Polish public, it is important."

"We have spent 18 months working our way through the court system, but it's worth too much for us to walk away."

QXL Ricardo was launched in the internet boom of the late Nineties, but was almost immediately upstaged by its US rival Ebay.

However, it has survived by gaining footholds in local niche markets in places like Denmark and Norway.

Switzerland is QXL's biggest market where it is level pegging with Ebay.