A letter of safe conduct for Henryk Kania for PLN 8 million as surety. Will he come from Argentina?
The District Court in Katowice decided on Tuesday that Henryk Kania, suspected of, among others, regarding multi-million fraud, the former owner of Zakłady Mięsne Kania residing in Argentina will receive a letter of safe conduct, provided that PLN 8 million of property guarantee is paid on his behalf.
The prosecutor's office and Kania's lawyers intend to appeal Tuesday's decision (she agrees to provide full details – PAP), who submitted an application for the issuance of a letter of safe conduct, but consider the amount of the guarantee to be too high.
Proc. Sebastian Głuch from the Silesian department of the National Prosecutor's Office told journalists that, according to the court's decision, the suspect has time to pay the bail until June 30, 2026. The justification for Tuesday's decision is to be prepared later. After analyzing it, the prosecutor's office will decide whether it will appeal and – as Głuch said – everything indicates that this will happen. He cited the provisions of the regulations, according to which a letter of safe conduct can be issued only in the absence of the prosecutor's objection.
The court assumed that the prosecutor's objection in this case was not decisive and that a letter of safe conduct could be issued in this respect. Hence, there will probably be a complaint in this respect, but as to the issue related to the surety and the possible validity of issuing a safe-conduct in the matter of surety, we will wonder whether we will also file a complaint on this issue – added the prosecutor.
As he noted, the PK considered the validity of issuing a safe conduct to the suspect, but ultimately decided that after returning to the country, Kania could illegally influence the investigation. In Tuesday's decision, the court did not share these concerns, drew attention to the lengthy extradition proceedings and decided that surety would be sufficient.
Kania's defenders submitted an application for the issuance of a safe conduct in April this year. Such a document would guarantee the suspect that after returning to Poland, he could answer freely until a final judgment is issued. One of the lawyers representing Kania, Olgierd Pogorzelski, said that the surety, which would secure the course of the investigation, is “too stringent a measure” because the suspect was deprived of his assets, among others. by ongoing criminal proceedings, as well as members of his family.
– Therefore, this amount for today is certainly high and we are probably seriously considering this issue to appeal against this decision once we receive a written justification from the court – added the lawyer.
Pogorzelski pointed out that the Katowice court questioned the prosecutor's ability to object to the application for a safe conduct.
– This type of construction is included in the Code of Criminal Procedure, but fortunately it is not collectively recognized by the courts, because the court recognizes that it has the right to make such decisions on its own. He also found that the fear of fraud was much lower than before, the lawyer described.
The suspect's lawyers had previously explained that Kania wanted to return to Poland because he wanted to “face” the investigation evidence, but also to take part in other proceedings regarding his property. They pointed out that while staying abroad, Kania cannot actively, as a party to the proceedings, appear in ongoing cases that involve hundreds of millions of zlotys.
A few weeks ago, the spokeswoman of the Prosecutor General, Anna Adamiak, in a written response to PAP's questions about Kania's extradition proceedings, informed that the last information from the Argentine PK was received in November 2024.
“According to its content, the extradition proceedings remain suspended until the Supreme Court considers the cassation appeal regarding the dismissal of the defense's evidence requests. At the request of the Polish Embassy on May 12, 2025, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Buenos Aires asked the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs for information on the status of the request, but we have not received a response so far,” added prosecutor Adamiak.
The prosecutor's office accuses Henryk Kania of many crimes related to the operation of the plants, including leading an organized criminal group in which many frauds were committed to the detriment of banks, several suppliers and the State Treasury. According to prosecutor Głuch, the investigation revealed the issuance of approximately PLN 2.5 thousand. fictitious invoices for a total of nearly PLN 900 million. Prosecutor's proceedings regarding irregularities at Zakłady Mięsne Henryk Kania SA have been ongoing since July 2019. As prosecutor Katarzyna Calów-Jaszewska from the PK press department informed in September, charges were announced to a total of 40 people.
In a position published in the media a few weeks ago, Kania claims, among other things, that one of the banks and one of the largest retail chains in Poland contributed to the collapse of his plants. The suspect's position on the causes of the bankruptcy of meat plants is his line of defense – the prosecutor's office responds.
One of the suspects in this investigation is the former Minister of Agriculture and former head of SLD, Wojciech Olejniczak, who was detained by the CBA in November 2024. The prosecutor's office accuses him of acting to the detriment of Alior Bank in connection with granting credit support to Zakłady Mięsne Henryka Kania. The accusation concerns the period when Olejniczak was the director of the Agro Business Department of Alior Bank. According to investigators, the damage caused to the bank amounts to PLN 161 million.
Zakłady Mięsne Kania in Pszczyna, which was previously a market leader, went bankrupt in 2020. Their founder, Henryk Kania, died in November 2024. His son, also Henryk, who took over the management of the company, is the main suspect in the ongoing investigation in the Silesian PK department. He was wanted on an international arrest warrant and a European arrest warrant. In 2020, Argentine services detained him in Buenos Aires. He was then placed under house arrest. (PAP)
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