Powerful intermediary detained
Officers of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau have detained seven people in connection with an investigation into the claiming influence at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and other corruption offences. The investigation is supervised by the West Pomeranian Terrain Division of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Szczecin.
Officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Szczecin are conducting a multi-threaded investigation into the case of claiming influence, among the highest-ranked officials of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and other corruption-related offences, including trading in influence, acceptance of a promise of financial benefit and financial gain by a local government official.
Family and business connections
According to the findings of CBA officers, there were cases of claiming influence with the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage – General Conservator of Historical Monuments. The intermediaries, using family and business connections, undertook to arrange favourable settlements for the handling of cases related to decisions of the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship Conservator of Monuments, as well as to obtain funding for the renovation of monuments.
CBA’s far-reaching action
On 20 June 2024, officers of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau detained five people in the case of claiming influence in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and two people in the case of accepting a promise of a material benefit and a material benefit by a local government official.
Procedural activities were conducted at nearly 30 locations, including the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the National Centre for Culture, local government offices, business entities and the detainees’ places of residence. During the procedural activities at the premises of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, electronic data and extensive documentation, among other things, were secured.
Officers from the Regional Offices of the CBA in Szczecin, Poznań, Wrocław, Lublin, Katowice, Gdańsk, Białystok, Kraków, Warsaw and Bydgoszcz participated in the proceedings.
Preventive Measures Applied
The detainees were brought to the West Pomeranian Terrain Division of the Department for Organised Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Szczecin.
With regard to four suspects, the Prosecutor applied for the temporary detention. The District Court of Szczecin Prawobrzeże and Zachód agreed to apply a preventive measure in the form of temporary arrest for the period of 3 months against one of the suspects. The Prosecutor applied non-custodial preventive measures, including property sureties, to the remaining three suspects, in respect of whom the Court did not consider requests for pre-trial detention.
With regard to the remaining suspects, the Prosecutor applied non-custodial preventive measures, including property sureties in the amount of PLN 100,000 each against 2 suspects.
In the case of claiming influence, another suspect has voluntarily come forward to the public prosecutor’s office and confessed to the alleged act and provided explanations. The Prosecutor applied non-custodial preventive measures, including a property surety in the amount of PLN 200,000.
Ongoing Case
This is the first procedural implementation in the ongoing multithreaded preparatory proceedings. Further implementations are planned.
CBA Press Team
