Former president of the Supreme Audit Office with allegations. Marian B. allegedly incited the disclosure of a tax secret

The Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok brought charges against the former president of the Supreme Audit Office, including: inciting other people to reveal tax secrets. These are the first charges brought against Marian B. in an investigation conducted for several years, which in other threads includes, among others: his son.

The prosecutor's office said in a statement on Wednesday that this was the case allegations in the thread regarding, among others, inducing the disclosure of information covered by fiscal secrecy by officers of the National Tax Administration to an unauthorized person.

Marian B's problems

With the legal qualification cited by the prosecutor's office, this is a charge of inciting the disclosure of information covered by fiscal secrecy by a person obliged to maintain such secrecy (according to the announcement, these are two such acts) and inciting a public official to exceed his or her powers or fail to fulfill his or her duties, and the perpetrator commits this act in order to obtain material or personal benefits (one act).

Zbigniew Szpiczko, spokesman for the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok, told PAP that for the sake of this investigation he cannot provide a description of the crimes with which Marian B was accused. He also did not reveal whether the suspect confessed; no preventive measures were taken against him.

What happened earlier in this investigation

Two weeks earlier, the Białystok prosecutor's office announced that in the same investigation it had changed and supplemented the charges against two other people; it's about, among other things, for a KAS officer to disclose information covered by fiscal secrecy to an unauthorized person. The context of this announcement shows that they are related to the allegations brought against the former president of the Supreme Audit Office.

The investigation is ongoing in Białystok until 2019; was initiated by notifications of suspicion of committing a crime submitted by the CBA, the Inspector General of Financial Information and a group of deputies from the parliamentary club of the Civic Coalition of the previous parliamentary term.

In the initial phase, it concerned the submission of false declarations of assets by Marian B. and his failure to disclose the income earned from renting a tenement house in Krakow.

In July 2021, the prosecutor's office informed about the arrest – as part of the same investigation, but in a different thread – by the CBA and charges brought against Jakub B., his wife Agnieszka and the then director of the Tax Chamber in Krakow, Tadeusz G.

In the case of the son of the former president of the Supreme Audit Office and his wife, there were suspicions, among others: extorting approximately PLN 120,000 from the National Fund for the Restoration of Krakow Monuments. PLN for the renovation of the tenement house and extorting almost PLN 80,000. PLN VAT. Both suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges and gave explanations. They were subject to, among others, bail bonds.

Tadeusz G. was then charged with repeatedly disclosing information covered by fiscal secrecy to Marian B.. As the prosecutor's office informed then, the suspect admitted to illegally disclosing to Marian B. information about the tax audit and activities carried out against him by the CBA.

At the end of July 2019, the Sejm received a motion to waive the immunity of the then president of the Supreme Audit Office, i.e. to consent to holding him criminally liable. The dozen or so allegations mentioned in this application included, among others: providing untruths in property declarations and tax returns.

According to investigators, Marian B. allegedly understated the income from the lease of the tenement house in his tax returns for 2015-2020. According to the prosecutor's office, this exposed the State Treasury to a loss of over PLN 50,000. PLN of income tax due.

Despite the positive opinion of the Sejm Rules and Regulations Committee, which recommended the lifting of the immunity of the head of the Supreme Audit Office, the motion was not submitted to the plenary session of the Sejm by the end of the previous parliamentary term.

Last spring, the then Prosecutor General, Adam Bodnar, decided to withdraw the motion from the Sejm of the current term; submitted it to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok to complete the evidentiary proceedings before a possible renewal of the application.

Ultimately, the prosecutor's office did not re-apply for the waiver of immunity; decided to announce charges against Marian B. when he is no longer protected by the immunity associated with his position as the president of the Supreme Audit Office.

So far, none of the threads of this investigation have resulted in an indictment. (PAP)

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