Former MP convicted of invoking influence
The District Court for Warsaw Wola issued the verdict against the former member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Zbigniew R., in one of the threads of the so-called Podkarpacie scandal.
The investigation was conducted by officers of the CBA Regional Office in Rzeszów in cooperation with the Local Division of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption at the National Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw.
The court sentenced Zbigniew R., a former member of the Polish Sejm, to 2 years and 6 months deprivation of liberty, a fine of 300 rates of PLN 100 each, forfeiture of financial gain of PLN 120,000 and forfeiture of the equivalent of alcohol of almost PLN 3,500.
The prosecution accused Zbigniew R. of invoking influence in the Directorate of State Forests in Krosno, the Ministry of Justice, the National Council of the Judiciary of Poland and Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) in Warsaw in the years 2011-2014. The evidence gathered in the course of the proceedings indicated that in exchange for financial advantages and promises thereof, the former MP acted as an intermediary in arranging matters, including issuing a favourable administrative decision, appointment to the post of judge for a designated person, secondment to work at the Ministry of Justice or arranging a loan of PLN 70 million for one of the companies.
As investigators established, the financial gain included cash, alcohol and fuel, which he filled up at one of the petrol stations at the expense of another defendant in the investigation.
In the multithreaded investigation into the so-called Podkarpacie scandal, charges were brought against several dozen persons. Some of the threads have already ended with indictments against, among others, the former head of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) Krzysztof K., the former MP Jan B., the former Deputy Chief of Police for Criminal Matters Mirosław S. and the former head of the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Rzeszów.
In January 2020, Mirosław K., the former Marshal of the Podkarpackie Voivodship, heard the final sentence of three years' imprisonment. In January 2022, the District Court in Tarnów upheld the ruling of the court of first instance sentencing former Appeal Prosecutor in Rzeszów Anna H. to six years of absolute imprisonment.
Public Relations Division of the CBA
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Fot. © robynmac/ Photogenica
