On Friday, the National Prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk appointed a team of three prosecutors at the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Katowice to investigate crimes related to the activities of Zondacrypto, including, above all, fraud to the detriment of customers, the National Prosecutor's Office informed.
The Katowice regional prosecutor's office initiated an investigation into this cryptocurrency exchange a week ago. It is conducted, among others, for fraud of high value and money laundering. It was already reported that the amount of damage in the Zondacrypto case was no less than PLN 350 million. However, as stated, it is growing with each passing day, just like the number of victims – a week ago it was even about 30,000. people.
The basis for initiating the investigation were the victims' notifications, as well as media reports on problems related to the payment of funds collected under Zondacrypto. As reported, during the investigation all information regarding the creation and operation of Zondacrypto, as well as the turnover of financial resources by this entity, will be examined.
“About two weeks ago, in connection with media reports and subsequent notifications, a decision was made to investigate information appearing in the media regarding irregularities in the operation of the Zondacrypto cryptocurrency exchange,” Przemysław Nowak, spokesman for the Polish Parliament, told PAP this week.
As he added, “certain activities have been performed, but due to the need to conduct a full, separate investigation in this case, materials from the activities carried out were transferred to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Katowice, which initiated an investigation into this matter on April 17.”
Proc. Nowak explained that “regional prosecutor's offices are competent to conduct investigations into the most serious crimes against economic turnover and financial and economic crimes against high-value property.”
On Friday, on platform
“The team included three prosecutors with experience in handling this type of cases, including the head of the Cybercrime Department of the Katowice Regional Prosecutor's Office,” wrote PK.
On Wednesday, the Katowice prosecutor's office announced that a website would be launched for victims of the Zondacrypto case with instructions for submitting reports of suspected crimes.
The Zondacrypto exchange has a portfolio of 4.5 thousand. bitcoins worth over USD 300 million, but – as the president of Zondacrypto, Przemysław Kral, announced on April 16 – the keys to them are held by the missing Sylwester Suszek, the founder of the BitBay exchange, the predecessor of Zondacrypto.
Suszek, referred to as the king of cryptocurrencies, disappeared in March 2022. He was 33 years old then. He was last seen at a fuel company in Czeladź, owned by Marian W. It was there that his mobile phone was last logged in. As the media described, on the day of his disappearance, the surveillance cameras at the fuel base stopped working for some time.
In the investigation into Suszek's disappearance, conducted by the Silesian department of the National Prosecutor's Office, Marian W. was charged with the deprivation of liberty of Sylwester Suszek. This investigation does not concern economic issues related to the operation of the cryptocurrency exchange.
– When Sylwester is supposed to hand over the private keys to this address in accordance with these documents, instead of doing so, he disappears. So for all those who claim (…) that I had anything to do with Sylwester's disappearance, this is the crowning argument that what I care most about is that Sylwester is found. Perhaps he is watching this, I appeal to him to fulfill the contract and to hand over the private keys to this address – Kral said on April 16.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that the Zondacrypto case “stinked” from the very beginning. When asked to confirm that President Kral was in Israel and asked whether extradition was an option in this case, the Prime Minister replied that it was a sensitive issue.
Also on April 17, the Sejm again did not reject the presidential veto to the bill on the crypto-assets market. President Nawrocki vetoed this bill for the first time at the beginning of December last year. Before the vote on the presidential veto in April, Prime Minister Tusk said from the parliamentary podium, among other things, that Zondacrypto's “great career” began in 2022 with a new boss, for money – as the head of government stated, citing information from the Polish services – the Russian mafia. He stated that Zondacrypto has become a company that “sponsors political and social events in Poland and promotes very specific political forces.”
On the same day, President Nawrocki said on Channel Zero that he did not regret for a second his veto of the bill on the crypto-assets market. He stated that he was responsible for 30 thousand. people potentially harmed regarding the Zondacrypto exchange is Tusk's government. When asked how Prime Minister Tusk could have handled this matter, Nawrocki replied that first of all – by warning those who invest if the government had “information from the Polish services.” (PAP)
mja/ nl/ mro/
