Corruption in the Court of Appeal in Krakow. New detentions
The Regional Office of the Central Anticorruption Bureau in Rzeszów conducts, under the supervision of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Rzeszów, an investigation into irregularities in the management of public funds provided for the disposal of the Court of Appeal in Krakow.
The CBA agents from Rzeszów detained two more persons regarding the appropriation of money from the Court of Appeal in Krakow. These are the employees of the Purchase Center for the Judiciary in Kraków delegated to work in the Court of Appeal. According to the evidence gathered during the investigation, detainees could have participated in an organized criminal group operating in the Court of Appeal in Kraków and commit appropriation and money laundering.
The CBA agents searched the detainees' apartments and the places of their work in the Krakow court.
The findings of investigators from the CBA and prosecutors indicate, that the Court of Appeal in Krakow has been appropriating property of great value since 2011. Around the court was created a network of many companies linked by capital, family and socially with the director of the court and the director of the Purchase Centre for Judiciary, carrying out fictitious contracts for the provision of consulting services, analyzes and studies. These companies in turn corrupted, by giving fictitious orders, employees of the Court of Appeals in Krakow, which was to ensure discretion and further favor with subsequent orders. In fact, these contracts were not implemented, paid-off analyzes and studies were not created and were just to justify the payment of money.
The first detention in this investigation took place at the end of 2016. The CBA officers detained 5 suspects: director and chief accountant of the Court of Appeal in Krakow, director of the Purchase Center for the Judiciary, former deputy director from the Ministry of Justice and two businessmen whose companies were to perform fictitious services for the court. The next months, are further detentions made by the CBA, including Krzysztof S., former president of the Court of Appeal in Krakow.
So far, in the investigation 30 suspects have been charged with appropriation of approximately 30 million zł, which were at the disposal of the Court of Appeal in Krakow and attempts to appropriate nearly 1.5 million zł.
The security on property was made of a total value of approx. 9 million zł.
The CBA does not rule out further detentions of persons taking part in an organized criminal group, appropriation of public money, accepting and giving financial benefits and money laundering.