Sławomir Nowak, who served as transport minister from 2011 to 2013 in Poland’s former coalition government led by his Civic Platform (PO) party, was detained in July by Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) in a joint probe with Ukrainian investigators on suspicion of multiple white-collar crimes.
Officers with Poland's Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) Image: cba.gov.pl.
A day later he was charged with “managing an organised criminal group that benefited from corruption,” according to a spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw.
Polish corruption investigators have now said they secured over PLN 4 million (EUR 900,000, USD 1.1 million) worth of cash coming "from corruption offenses committed" by Nowak, in addition to assets such as two apartments and a high-end luxury car, the polsatnews.pl website reported.
The cash was stashed away in specially crafted hiding places, the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau said, as quoted by state news agency PAP.
The latest findings "show that Sławomir Nowak carried out his activities on a much larger scale than was previously thought," the investigators also said, according to polsatnews.pl.
The investigation in the case is ongoing and will now focus on a search for more assets belonging to the former politician, the website reported.
Sławomir Nowak is seen escorted into a car after facing prosecutors in Warsaw on July 21. Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara
The latest revelations come after Polish prosecutors reportedly said in late July they were preparing to file more charges against Nowak, who was once a right-hand man to Polish centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The wpolityce.pl website at the time cited two journalists with Poland’s Sieci news magazine as claiming that Nowak, who headed Ukraine’s State Road Agency (Ukravtodor) from 2016 to 2019, “not only accepted bribes for road contracts, but also demanded money from businessmen seeking favour with Ukrainian authorities.”
Once "the golden boy" of Poland's previous ruling elite, Nowak has “turned out to be an international con man,” the journalists, Marek Pyza and Marcin Wikło, said, according to the wpolityce.pl website.
Mirosława Chyr, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, told reporters on July 21 that Nowak was suspected of receiving more than PLN 1.3 million (EUR 293,000, USD 335,000) in personal gain in return for illegitimately awarding contracts to private businesses for the construction and repair of roads in Ukraine.
He is also suspected of “laundering money from corruption crimes,” Chyr said at the time.
She added that the charges “concern the period from October 2016 to September 2019 when the former Polish government minister headed the Ukrainian State Road Agency Ukravtodor.”
Mirosława Chyr, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, talks to reporters on July 21. Photo: PAP/Wojciech Olkuśnik
Two other suspects have also been charged in the case, Chyr told reporters in July.
Both are accused of being part of an organised criminal group as well as of money laundering and taking bribes, she said.
Under Polish privacy laws, the two men have been identified only as “Dariusz Z.,” a former commander of Poland’s elite GROM special forces unit, and “Jacek P.,” a businessman based in the Baltic city of Gdańsk.
All three suspects have denied the charges against them, Chyr said at the time.
Nowak, who has been remanded in custody for three months following a court order, could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted, wpolityce.pl reported in late July.
(gs/pk)
Source: polsatnews.pl, PAP, wpolityce.pl