Finalization of the trial for laundering PLN 358 million. The prosecutor's office demands 15 years for the former WSI officer

On December 22, the Warsaw court is to announce its verdict in the case concerning the accusation of “laundering” PLN 358 million from SKOK Wołomin. Closing arguments in this trial ended on Friday.

The case before the Warsaw-Praga District Court was pending for over five years – since the summer of 2020. The accused is a former officer of the Military Information Services who sat on the authorities of SKOK, Piotr Polaszczyk (he consents to the publication of his name in his affairs – PAP note).

The court proceedings were closed at the end of August this year. Then the court heard the speech of prosecutor Agnieszka Leszczyńska. The prosecutor requested the use of the so-called extraordinary tightening of the penalty and imposing 15 years of imprisonment on the accused. At the beginning of October this year. The defense spoke up and asked for acquittal.

Closing speeches

On Friday, Polaszczyk was the last to speak in his final speeches. – The indictment in this case was artificially separated (from the main case of SKOK Wołomin – PAP note) and is an example of political gangsterism – said the accused. He added that the way the case was handled in court “violated all rules of a fair trial.” He also assessed that there was no evidence of his guilt in this case and also asked for acquittal.

In this process it is about the accusation of “laundering” PLN 358 million. According to investigators, the accused conducted activities aimed at concealing the criminal origin of money from fraudulent loans and credits at SKOK in Wołomin.

Back in December 2019, when the indictment was brought to court, the District Prosecutor's Office in Gorzów Wielkopolski informed that, according to its findings, Polaszczyk's actions were to consist in the fact that “on his account and that of other members of SKOK Wołomin, for which he had powers of attorney, he accepted or ordered to accept various amounts of money, paid both in cash and by transfer.” “These amounts came from benefits related to fraudulent loans and credits from SKOK in Wołomin,” it was reported. The money – according to the prosecutor's office – was then transferred further.

The main process of SKOK Wołomin

Meanwhile, at the beginning of December this year, also The main trial regarding the SKOK Wołomin scandal began before the Prague district court. The total amount of fraud is estimated by the prosecutor's office at over PLN 3 billion. There are over 60 people on the bench of the accused in the main trial, including Polaszczyk, and the indictment itself consists of 29 volumes, over 5.5 thousand. pages.

In turn, in March this year The District Court in Warsaw upheld the conviction for the 2014 assault on the deputy head of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, Wojciech Kwaśniak, who supervised the control at SKOK Wołomin, and legally sentenced Polaszczyk – whom the prosecutor's office accused of inciting the beating of the deputy head of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority – to 8 years in prison.

Marcin Jabłoński (PAP)

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