5 years in prison for a former court accountant in Koszalin for misappropriating over PLN 577,000. zloty

Five years in prison – this sentence was upheld on Wednesday by the Court of Appeal in Gdańsk against the former deputy chief accountant of the District Court in Koszalin, Jolanta P., convicted of misappropriating over PLN 577,000. PLN from the employee benefit and loan fund.

The remaining two defendants – Bożena U. and Władysława S., retired court employees who sat on the management board of the bank – were legally acquitted. The judgment of the court of first instance was fully upheld.

The non-final judgment against three former employees of the District Court in Koszalin (West Pomeranian Voivodeship) was passed before the Słupsk court on October 21, 2022. The women were accused of misappropriating PLN 577,747.25 from the court's relief and loan fund in the period from November 4, 2003 to August 20, 2018.

The court then found the main defendant, Jolanta P., guilty of the acts she was charged with and sentenced her to 5 years in prison. Moreover, he ordered her to compensate the damage caused to individual injured members of the fund for a total amount of over PLN 577,000. zloty. The court also banned Jolanta P. from practicing the accounting profession for 3 years and charged her with the costs of the proceedings.

However, Bożena U. and Władysława S. were acquitted. The first of them was the chairman of the management board of the fund and an employee of the penitentiary department of the court, the second was a member of the management board and a janitor.

The prosecutor, Jolanta P.'s defense lawyer and the subsidiary prosecutor appealed against the verdict of the Słupsk court. The prosecutor's office demanded that all the defendants be found guilty and harsher penalties, while Jolanta P.'s defense requested her acquittal.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal in Gdańsk upheld the entire judgment passed before the court in Słupsk.

In his justification, judge Andrzej Rydzewski explained that in the case of Jolanta P., “the situation is obvious” and the previously imposed punishment is adequate to the guilt.

– There's nothing to consider here. The lady withdrew over PLN 577,000. PLN and this money simply does not exist – he said.

The judge emphasized that in the case of Bożena U. and Władysława S. there were no legal grounds for assigning criminal liability.

Wednesday's judgment of the Gdańsk court of appeal is final.

In the indictment, the prosecutor's office accused Jolanta P. – in addition to misappropriating money – of producing documents allowing her to use money from the benefit and loan fund, falsifying bank statements and accounting documentation, and violating the Accounting Act by not keeping financial reports.

Bożena U. and Władysława S. were accused of acting jointly and in concert with Jolanta P. in misappropriating money paid into the treasury by court employees and subordinate units. In the opinion of the prosecutor's office, they should supervise the fund's finances. Moreover, after the three-year term of office of the credit union's management board expired, they had no legal authority to sit on it. No new elections to the fund's management board were held.

The investigation into the misappropriation of money from the benefit and loan fund of the District Court in Koszalin was conducted by the District Prosecutor's Office in Koszalin for three years. It was completed in the second half of 2021. Nearly 100 victims, former or current employees of the Koszalin District Court and its units killed were identified.

The case came to light in August 2018, because members of the credit union were looking forward to obtaining a loan, and those who wanted to withdraw their deposits found out that there was no money in the credit union. The inspection was carried out by the president and director of the court. At that time, it was estimated that at least PLN 285,000 had disappeared from the cash register. zloty. Jolanta P. was dismissed from work for disciplinary reasons. Bożena U. and Władysława S. were already pensioners. (PAP)

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