Claiming influence in state institutions
Officers of the Central Anticorruption Bureau have detained six people in relation to an investigation into the claiming influence in government and local government offices, as well as in pre-trial detentions and prosecutors’ offices. The investigation is supervised by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice.
Officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Kraków are conducting pre-trial proceedings concerning the claiming of influence in government and local government offices, as well as in pre-trial detentions and prosecutors’ offices between 2020 and 2022. The investigation also includes threads of disclosure of information by public officials in connection with the performance of official functions and the issuing of fraudulent invoices by economic entities. The investigation is supervised by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice.
Relationship network
From the evidence gathered, it appears that in exchange for financial benefits or the promise of granting such benefits, persons having influence in offices or convincing that they had such influence, attempted to illegally handle matters that were of interest to entities operating in the construction services and waste disposal sector, and officials disclosed to unauthorised persons information obtained in connection with the performance of public functions.
Business entities within the framework of their interrelationships issued fraudalent invoices that did not prove real economic events. The invoices were used to settle the VAT due. Undue refunds and tax reductions constituted a form of financial benefit between the entities.
Officials and entrepreneurs detained
On 20 May 2024, officers from the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Kraków detained six people, including two officials from Lubuskie Voivodeship and a retired police officer. Procedural activities were conducted in Warsaw, Katowice and the Lubuskie, Podkarpackie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeships. Officers from the Regional Office of the CBA in Kraków, Rzeszów, Poznań, Wrocław, Katowice and Bydgoszcz, as well as police officers from the Independent Counter Terrorist Subdivisions of the Police from Kraków and Poznań participated in the implementation.
As a result of searches in over a dozen locations, CBA officers secured electronic data carriers, mobile phones and documentation having evidential value, including over a dozen so-called ‘blank invoices’.
The detainees were brought to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice. The prosecutor charged them under, among other, Articles 230 and 230a of the Penal Code. The officials were charged under Article 266 § 2 of the Penal Code.
Preventive Measures Applied
The Prosecutor overseeing the case applied to the court for the use of a preventive measure in the form of temporary arrest against the three suspects. The court accepted the Prosecutor’s motions and decided on the temporary detention of three men managing economic entities for a period of three months. A property surety was applied to the remaining two persons, including a high-ranking official of the Marshal’s Office of the Lubuskie Voivodeship. Another of the suspects was put under police supervision.
Ongoing Case
This is the first procedural implementation in an ongoing pre-trial proceedings. The investigation was initiated as a result of a report filed by a person giving a financial benefit. The case is ongoing and further implementation is planned.
CBA Press Team
