Another charges for persons from non-public universities
Officers of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau have detained further persons from private universities in Łódź, Kraków and Katowice. This is another implementation in the investigation supervised by the Silesian Field Division of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice.
Officers from the Regional Office of the Central Anticorruption Bureau in Rzeszów are conducting a multithreaded investigation into, among other things, an organised criminal group operating at one of the non-public higher education institutions in Warsaw and into corruption-related offences.
Universities of Łódź, Katowice and Kraków on target
On 26 June 2024, officers of the Regional Office of the CBA in Rzeszów detained three men and a woman in Warsaw, Łódź, Rzeszów and Katowice in connection with an investigation into irregularities at universities.
The detainees include the rector and pro-rector of the Higher School of Internal Security in Łódź, a lecturer at the Katowice School of Economics and an employee of the College of Public Security and Individual Apeiron in Krakow.
According to the findings of the investigation, these persons, acting at short intervals, performing a premeditated intention, granted financial benefits in amounts ranging from PLN 15,000 to PLN 200,000 to persons representing the Polish Accreditation Committee. The financial benefits given were to ensure that positive decisions were obtained for the development of these non-public higher education institutions.
CBA officers searched the detainees’ places of residence and offices at the universities. Officers secured documentation and electronic data carriers.
Preventive Measures Applied
The detainees were brought to the Silesian Field Division of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice. The Prosecutor has charged them with bribery (Article 229 § 1 and § 4 of the Penal Code ) and trading in influence (Article 230a § 1 of the Penal Code).
Against the rector, the Prosecutor applied non-custodial preventive measures, i.e. police supervision and a ban on contacting specific persons.
Against the remaining suspects, the Prosecutor applied non-custodial preventive measures, including property sureties in the amount of PLN 40,000 to PLN 200,000, police supervision, prohibition of contact with other persons, as well as suspension from exercising duties. In the case of the detainee, who is currently a member of the Polish Accreditation Committee (previously he was an expert of the Polish Accreditation Committee), the prosecutor applied, in addition to the financial surety and Police supervision, suspension from performing the function of a member of the Polish Accreditation Committee.
99 corruption charges
This is the fifth procedural implementation in the investigation conducted by officers of the Regional Office of the CBA in Rzeszów in the case concerning irregularities in higher education institutions and granting benefits to persons holding positions in the Polish Accreditation Committee.
Extensive evidence has been collected in the case, which has so far allowed 99 charges to be brought. Nineteen people have heard the charges, including the rectors of several non-public higher education institutions and the director of the Polish Accreditation Committee in Warsaw. Further implementations are planned.
The Non-Punishment Principle
We would like to remind you that according to Article 229 § 6 of the Penal Code, persons who have allowed themselves to be entangled in a corruption procedure and have given a financial or personal benefit to a person holding a public function are not liable to punishment if the benefit has been accepted by a person holding a public function, and the giver has notified an authority established for the prosecution of offences and disclosed all relevant circumstances of the offence before the authority became aware of it.
In order to benefit from the non-punishment principle, persons who have given or promised to give benefits should report to the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau or the Silesian Field Division of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice.
CBA Press Team
