Rigged tenders for road investments
A several-week-long investigation resulted in the detention of three civil servants from Biała Podlaska and three local entrepreneurs. The case concerns suspected irregularities in the organisation of tenders.
The officers of the CBA Regional Office in Lublin, supervised by the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Lublin, Biała Podlaska Regional Centre, have been investigating the suspicion of abuse of power and failure to fulfil obligations by the employees of the Biała Podlaska Municipal Office and the Biała Podlaska Municipality in connection with conducted tenders.
The investigation was initiated on the grounds of the evidence gathered by the CBA and has been carried out for several weeks.
The investigators' findings indicate that the civil servants provided the entrepreneurs with confidential information concerning planned investments in road infrastructure, including reconstruction and renovation of roads, bus bays and bicycle paths. The evidence indicates that by favouring bidders they agreed with them on the description of the subject of the contract, the amounts allocated for the execution of the investments and the requirements related to the planned tasks, thus putting them in a privileged position over other potential contractors. In this way, they acted intending to achieve financial gain by the companies, thanks to which they won the tenders. The period from February to July 2020 is under investigation in the case.
The persons detained by the CBA include the deputy head of the Biała Podlaska commune, road investment inspectors of the Biała Podlaska Commune Office and the Biała Podlaska Municipal Office, and three local entrepreneurs. The detainees' places of residence, the seats of their companies and the places of employment were also searched.
In the prosecutor's office, the civil servants have been charged with abuse of powers and disclosing information to unauthorised persons. The other suspects have heard charges of inciting the civil servants to provide unauthorised information and abuse of powers in connection with the planned and ongoing procurement procedures.
The investigation is under development.
Public Relations Division of the CBA