WARSAW, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Poland failed to receive payment for its two troubled shipyards by a midnight Monday deadline, which could lead to the collapse of the sale and cost the country's privatisation chief his post.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned last month he would fire Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad if he failed to sell the Szczecin and Gdynia shipyards by the end of August.
"The amount offered by private investor Stichting Particulier Fonds Greenrights... did not arrive by midnight, Aug 17," the Treasury Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Poland agreed to sell the assets to an investor backed by Qatar's QInvest to help end a long-running dispute with Brussels over state aid granted to the shipyards, considered the cradle of the Solidarity trade union that helped topple the communist regime two decades ago.
The investor later asked for a delay in payment of some 380 million zlotys ($129 million) until Aug. 17.
The ministry will provide further information later on Tuesday, it said. It was not available for further comment.
The government spokesman was also not available.
Grad had said QInvest would provide financing for the transaction, but the investment bank later said it was representing clients in the transaction, declining to name them.
QInvest's shareholders include Qatar Islamic Bank
The shipyards are under bankruptcy protection and may need to be liquidated, costing thousands of jobs. The global economic downturn and a big drop in shipping that followed has led to a collapse in demand for new vessels. (Reporting by Adrian Krajewski and Chris Borowski; Editing by Janet Lawrence)