16 years of the CBA - Always in the interest of Poland
On 9 June, we celebrate the Day of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau. It has been 16 years since the creation of the Bureau, whose tasks are performed daily by over 1300 officers and employees in 23 organisational units.
In the years 2006-2021, activities conducted by the CBA resulted in the disclosure of over 22.2 billion of damage to the State Treasury's property. During that period, the following were initiated: 3,078 investigations, 5072 pre-inspection analyses and 1422 inspections. 2,252 analytical studies were prepared and 17,296 declarations of interest were examined. Over 1,300 anti-corruption training courses were conducted in a traditional form, and over 360,000 training courses were completed on the e-learning platform run by the CBA. These are only some of the data which present the activities of the Bureau.
Daily, officers of the CBA conduct multi-threaded, complex investigations of considerable weight, often requiring specialist knowledge. The investigations include corruption cases, cases of extortion of subsidies or VAT, operations of para-bank institutions or cryptocurrency trading.
In the Bureau's pages recently alone, we have reported on the detention of a former advocate in a new investigation into invoking influence in the administration of justice; the detention of a doctor facing 166 charges including corruption and money laundering; the detention of the President of the Management Board of Transplant Support Foundation in Szczecin and the former President of the Management Board of this foundation, who have heard charges of participating in criminal activities of an organised crime group and money laundering; an investigation concerning irregularities in issuing prescriptions for dietary preparations for infants and thus acting to the detriment of the National Health Fund for over PLN 700,000; further detentions concerning the operation of a Ponzi scheme in which losses of at least PLN 20 million were sustained by at least 400 people; detention of eleven persons in connection with irregularities in tenders organised by the Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute detained in connection with rigging tenders for medical equipment for hospitals - the total value of contracts under investigation, in which irregularities were allegedly committed, amounts at present to about PLN 5 million; bringing charges against the former President of the Management Board and the former Commercial Director of Lublin Airport S.A. in connection with the conclusion of unfavourable contracts for the benefit of the Management Board of Lublin Airport S.A. - according to the investigators' findings, the irregularities resulted in property damage of over PLN 5 million.
Recent years have presented the CBA with new challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has opened up fields of activity for criminal groups. Acting within the framework of anti-corruption cover, risks of increased fraud to obtain state aid were identified. Last year, the attempted destabilisation of the Polish-Belarusian border also contributed to imposing new tasks on the Bureau. Under the provisions of the Act on the Construction of the State Border Security Installations, tasks were imposed on the CBA concerning participation in the work of the Team for the Preparation and Implementation of the Security of the State Border, exercising control over procurement related to the investment and conducting shielding activities. In 2021, 20 business entities interested in participating in the project were verified. Moreover, drafts of three agreements concerning the investment were examined and comments were submitted to the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Guard. The undertakings related to the investment were also monitored on an ongoing basis, providing the relevant institutions with alerts on potential risks and threats.
Due to the conflict in Ukraine, we all faced new challenges. On the initiative of the Head of the CBA, a joint international relief effort was undertaken, targeting the families of officers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). The CBA was one of the services that also played an important role in the implementation of economic sanctions.
The CBA cooperates with many national and international organisations and law enforcement agencies from other countries and takes part in international projects. Recently, the Head of the CBA took part in the 4th High-Level Regional Anti-Corruption Seminar and a meeting was held with representatives of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). The Head of the CBA also signed a letter of intent with the Rector-Commander of the Military University of Technology on ICT and educational cooperation. Within this cooperation, a representative of the Bureau conducted a seminar for 5th-year students on forms and methods of preventing corruption.
The CBA constantly and consistently reduces corruption risks and threats to the economic interest of our country acting "Always in the interest of Poland".
CBA Press Team
