Minister asks if TPSA profit plunge reflects transfers to parent

WARSAW, March 15 (Reuters) - Poland's economy minister said a drop in earnings at the country's top telecoms group TPSA may be a result of capital transfers to its parent company France Telecom.

Shares in TPSA slumped in February after the incumbent operator warned that the sector's price war would result in a "deep fall" in 2013 revenue and announced another dividend cut.

"This is a question to the management in Poland. What is the reason of the breakdown in an important listed company - investment processes or money transferring?" Janusz Piechocinski said in an interview with news website Newseria.pl.

"Our accounting has to very strongly control the various forms of transferring money by global companies."

Some politicians and investors have in the past accused several large foreign companies of funnelling cash out of their Polish subsidiaries through high licensing payments and other means to cut their tax bill in Poland and avoid sharing profits with local shareholders.

Piechocinski, who is also deputy Prime Minister, met with representatives of TPSA's mobile arm to discuss the issues, Newseria.pl reported.

TPSA said it was surprised to be cited as a possible victim of a transfer of earnings by a foreign parent.

"TPSA is a listed company that reports its financial results in detail," spokesman Wojciech Jabczynski said. "We are fully transparent and meet every requirement in terms of information, investor relation quality and corporate order.

"The worse-than-expected market performance results from the current market situation," he added.

France Telecom was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Adrian Krajewski; Additional reporting by Astrid Wendlandt in Paris; Editing by David Holmes)