The court dismissed a group claim regarding Amber Gold. “Direct causes of damages sovereign investors”
The Court of Appeal in Warsaw changed the judgment of the first instance on Friday and dismissed a group claim of nearly 200 Amber Gold clients. This is a refund in this case, because in 2022 the first instance court awarded former clients of the bankrupt company over PLN 20 million. The client's representative described the verdict as “disappointing”.
– It deserves to be considered as a fully legitimate appeal of the defendant, i.e. the Treasury (…), which resulted in the change of the judgment under appeal and the dismissal of the claim in full. In the opinion of SA, the judgment of the District Court is erroneous and does not correspond to the law – said judge Katarzyna Kisiel in the justification of the Friday judgment.
The Court of Appeal in Warsaw changed the Friday ruling, in the summer of 2022, the first instance judgment and dismissed a group lawsuit of nearly 200 Amber Gold clients.
Three years ago, the first instance court awarded former clients of the company over PLN 20 million. The basic conclusion of the justification of the court of first instance said that “the main problem and source of unlawfulness in this case” was that the activities of the Amber Gold investigation were undertaken “with a significant delay by law enforcement agencies” – in this case the prosecutor's office. This, according to the Court of first instance, was the “complex nature of the unlawfulness of the Treasury”. SO awarded the Treasury for each of the people focused in the group from 8,000. PLN up to over PLN 1 million, which in total gave – without interest – over PLN 20 million.
The essence of that judgment was referred to by the State Treasury General Prosecutor's Office, which wanted to repeal it. The prosecutor's office indicated that the State Treasury could not be responsible for “investors' conscious decisions and risky activities.”
In the oral justification of the Friday judgment, Judge Kisiel granted the prosecutor's arguments. The judge pointed out that the damage to each of the company's clients did not result from the prosecutor's prosecutor's long -term proceedings against members of the Amber Gold board, but from the situation in which this company found itself as a commercial law entity.
– First of all, it should be noted that the evidence presented in the case did not allow to assign to the State Treasury, i.e. individual units of the prosecutor's office, liability on the basis of the Civil Code and the provision on damage caused by unlawful action or omission in the exercise of public authority – noted Judge Kisiel.
In the opinion of SA in the first instance, the court incorrectly and unjustly assumed that in this case there were premises for damages of the Treasury and “an adequate causal relationship between the actions and omission of the prosecutor's office, and the damage suffered by the group members.”
– A different assessment of prosecutor's decisions may not indicate the unlawfulness of these decisions, but constituted a normal course of proceedings – the judge noted and reminded that each decision of the prosecutor's office on Amber Gold was appealed by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority and then verified by the court.
In the opinion, the decision of the first instance was based on an erroneous assumption that “the decision to initiate criminal proceedings and charged with a member of the management board of a capital company aims or causes, as part of the normal consequence, the company's collapse.” – The direct reasons for the damage on the side of Amber Gold investors were their sovereign decisions regarding investing funds – emphasized Judge Kisiel.
As she reminded, as early as 2009, KNF entered Amber Gold on the list of warnings. – From January 2010, they began to appear in national media, on websites and on various websites information that the prosecutor's office is conducting proceedings and Amber Gold is on the list of warnings. Each stuffy investor (…) should make a comprehensive discernment and verifying information about the entity in which he places his own funds – said the judge.
The client's representative of the bankrupt company Tomasz Krawczyk after leaving the courtroom assessed that the Friday sentence is “disappointing” for the reasons and their proxies, as well as for a large group of people injured by Amber Gold, who “looked at this decision to decide as to the possible claim of claims.”
He pointed out that two issues determined the dismissal by SA. – First of all, the court came to the conclusion that the behavior of the prosecutor's office consisting in refusing to initiate an investigation and tardiness was not unlawful, and secondly, there was no causal relationship between this delayed allegation and damage – he told journalists.
He estimated that none of these arguments could be agreed. He noted that “characteristic” is convinced from argumentation SA that charging and the manner of conducting the investigation is a sovereign decision of the prosecutor.
MEC. Krawczyk, referring to this issue, stated that the prosecutor – as a state organ – should act within the law, in this case designated by the Code of Criminal Procedure. – For sovereignty, i.e. acting without binding the regulations or any power, there is certainly no place here – he assessed.
The lawyer also drew attention to the fact that by speaking about the causal relationship between the abandonment of the prosecutor's office and the damage, SA “omitted the opinion of experts carried out in the case, in particular the opinion of an expert social psychologist, which pointed to this relationship exactly.”
When asked if the Friday sentence closes the case, the Amber Gold client representative reminded that it is possible to lodge a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court. However, he stipulated that decisions in this matter would be taken after receiving the written justification of the judgment.
The Amber Gold case was one of the louder scandals, which a few years ago focused the attention of politicians, media and public opinion, as well as the parliamentary inquiry commission. The company was to invest in gold and other ores. It has been operating since 2009, and tempted clients with a high investment interest – from 6 percent. up to even 16.5 percent per year – which significantly exceeded the interest rate on bank deposits. On August 13, 2012, the company announced liquidation, and thousands of customers did not pay the money or interest from them.
The Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz District Prosecutor's Office has been dealt with by Amber Gold since the end of 2009, after the PFSA made a notification that this company was conducting banking activities without permission. At that time, the company went to the KNF “Black List”.
However, at the beginning of 2010, the District Prosecutor's Office refused to initiate an investigation. After taking into account the KNF complaint in May 2010, an investigation was initiated, which was discontinued in August. Also, the decision to discontinue the PFSA filed a complaint, and the court included it in December 2010.
After returning the case to the Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz prosecutor's office, she was registered, commissioning the Municipal Police Headquarters in Gdańsk, the performance of specific procedural activities. In February 2011, a decision was made to consult an auditor. In connection with the extension of the study of this opinion – in May 2011 – the prosecutor clerk suspended the proceedings in the case.
It wasn't until June 2012 that the Amber Gold proceedings were taken over by the District Prosecutor's Office in Gdańsk. This prosecutor's office raised the head of Amber Gold Marcin P. in August 2012.
At the end of May 2022, a final criminal judgment was passed before the Gdańsk Court of Appeal in relation to the creators of Amber Gold. Marcin P. was punished with 15 years in prison, and his wife Katarzyna P. 11.5 years in prison. In October 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed – as obviously unfounded – the defense cassation from the conviction of Marcin P.
Marcin Jabłoński, Ewa Fiutka (PAP)
MJA/ EF/ PAR
History of the Amber Gold financial pyramid. Almost 19 thousand deceived customers for almost PLN 851 million
Marcin P. and his wife Katarzyna P. cheated in 2009-12 as part of the so-called Amber Gold financial pyramids almost 19 thousand Company clients, bringing them to losses of almost PLN 851 million. The company's customers were to earn by investing in gold and other ores.
Amber Gold started operating in 2009 and was to invest in gold and other ores, and tempted clients with a high investment interest – from 6 to even 16.5 percent. per year – which significantly exceeded the interest rate on bank deposits.
On August 13, 2012, the company announced liquidation, and thousands of its clients did not pay the money entrusted to it and interest on them.
The Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz District Prosecutor's Office has been dealt with by Amber Gold since the end of 2009. After the PFSA made a notification that this company was conducting banking activities without permission.
The case was initially discontinued and suspended. The investigation was taken over by the Gdańsk District Prosecutor's Office in June 2012 and only this prosecutor's office brought Marcin P. in August 2012 the first complaint. In the autumn of the same year, the investigation was transferred to the District Prosecutor's Office in Łódź.
The District Prosecutor's Office in Łódź, in June 2015, prepared an indictment against the head of the company Marcin P. and his wife Katarzyna P., who were to cheat in 2009-2012, in total almost 19 thousand. Company's clients.
The trial of Marcin P. and Katarzyna P., the owners of Amber Gold, began in March 2016 before the District Court in Gdańsk.
According to investigators, Marcin P. and his wife deceived in 2009-12 led to an unfavorable property regulation of almost PLN 851 million.
The prosecutor's office found that Amber Gold was the so -called a financial pyramid, and the accused without permission conducted activities consisting in collecting the money of parabank customers.
In May 2022, the Gdańsk Court of Appeal announced a final judgment on the creators of Amber Gold by reducing the prison sentence to 11 years and 6 months for Katarzyna P. and maintaining a 15 -year prison sentence for Marcin P., which was issued in 2019 by the District Court in Gdańsk.
Marcin P. The accused Katarzyna P. did not appear.
The prosecutor before SA demanded 15 years imprisonment for Katarzyna P. and 25 years in prison for Marcin P. defenders demanded that the case be repealed and re -examined.
In October 2024, the Supreme Court decided on the creator of Amber Gold. Marcin P. will finally spend 15 years in prison. The Supreme Court dismissed – as unfounded – the defense cassation from the conviction of P.
The decision of the Supreme Court Chamber in this case – dismissing the defense cassation from the judgment of the Gdańsk Court of Appeal of 30 May 2022, modifying the earlier judgment of the first instance, were passed before the local District Court in 2019 – issued in October 2024.
Katarzyna P. is already at large after more than 9 years in prison. The woman found a job and repays a fine imposed by the court. It was a condition that her court had, releasing the imprisonment of 11.5 years from the awarded sentence.
Marcin P. also tried to get out of prison earlier; The convicted businessman served over three quarters of the sentence. In the autumn of 2024, the court considered his request and decided that the man would stay in the prison.
The Amber Gold case was also dealt with by the Sejm inquiry commission of the Sejm of the 8th term, which operated in 2016-2019. The conclusion contained in the report of that committee was the statement that “in the opinion of the investigation commission, the creation and expansion of the Amber Gold group were the result of the state's weakness, the dysfunctionality of the authorities guarding the rule of law and the justice system, system legal gaps, passivity and the indulgence of the clerical apparatus, as well as the lack of application of law by public authority.”
The commission held 132 meetings, traced 16 thousand. volumes of the case file and questioned 141 witnesses. Before the commission, they testified, among others Former president of the District Court in Gdańsk Ryszard Milewski, former President of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz, Donald Tusk, who during the operation of Amber Gold was the prime minister, his son Michał, and Gdańsk entrepreneur Marius Olech.
Marcin Jabłoński, Nina Leszczyńska (PAP)
MJA/ NL/ MHR/ Ksza/ RBK/
