Organized criminal group extorting EU subsidies dismantled– 5 persons detained
Officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Szczecin detained a criminal group that was extorting EU subsidies from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the National Center for Research and Development. The investigation is supervised by the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Szczecin.
Extorting subsidies from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the National Center for Research and Development
Officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Szczecin, under the supervision of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Szczecin, conduct an investigation into an organized criminal group aimed at extorting EU subsidies from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the National Center for Research and Development.
A criminal group from the Greater Poland and West Pomeranian Voivodeships dismantled
On December 6, 2023, officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Szczecin detained five persons suspected of participating in an organized criminal group involved in falsifying documentation and submitting false and unreliable documents to the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the National Center for Research and Development as part of projects worth over PLN 70,000,000.00. Searches were also carried out at the place where the suspects were detained in order to secure material that may be of evidentiary importance to the ongoing investigation. Moreover, officers from the Regional Offices of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau from Katowice, Kraków, Bydgoszcz, Wrocław, Łódź and Gdańsk searched a number of business entities involved in criminal activities.
In the course of investigation, it was found that in the years 2019 - 2021, there were numerous abuses in the implementation of projects co-financed from the Smart Growth Operational Program - the abuses consisted in presenting fictitious consulting services as eligible expenses, creating projects in order to obtain funding, as well as misleading intermediary institutions.
Preventive measures applied in the investigation
Officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Szczecin took the detained persons to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Szczecin, where they were charged with operating and managing a criminal group, intellectual falsehood and fraud. The prosecutor decided to apply non-custodial preventive measures to the three suspects, including police supervision, a ban on leaving the country combined with confiscation of their passport, property bail and a ban on contacting persons suspected in the case.
Against the other two suspects, at the request of the Prosecutor conducting the investigation, the District Court of Szczecin Prawobrzeże and Zachód applied an isolating preventive measure in the form of temporary detention.
The case is ongoing
This is the first procedural implementation in the ongoing preparatory proceedings. The case is developing, further actions are planned.
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Projekt bez nazwy
