The investigation against Bartosz K., Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation has been discontinued. The case was related to providing false data in VAT invoices and a money-laundering scheme. According to the investigators, there are no grounds for filing charges against him.
The investigation has been discontinued by the Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin. The information on the case was provided in a Tuesday press release by Beata Syk-Jankowska, the spokesperson for the Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin.
As the spokesperson stated, the investigation against Bartosz K. was terminated in December, due to the lack of features of a prohibited act.
Starting from 2021, Bartosz K had been suspected of having, as president of a consulting firm, provided untrue statements in VAT invoices issued (in the period from 2012 until 2016) to foreign entrepreneurs, for a total amount of over PLN 5.3 million. In doing so, he allegedly made a financial gain, using such criminal activity as a stable source of income. “The evidence gathered after the submission of the charges, in the course of verifying Bartosz K.’s line of defence, substantiates the version of events presented by him, that the services specified in the described invoices (…) had actually been performed,” said the spokesperson.
The charges against Bartosz K.
The prosecution service also accused Bartosz K. of involvement in a money-laundering scheme. However, it can be inferred from the latest release that there is no evidence that the money that entered the company’s account actually originated from any kind of crime. Even though – as the spokesperson claims – such possibility cannot be definitely ruled out – the investigators have not managed to determine any specific criminal act from which the illicit proceeds would actually originate.
“The Prosecutor concluded that the non-transparency of the sources of income of the company administered by Bartosz K. constituted a circumstance that could have heightened suspicions that he might have committed a money laundering offence. Nevertheless, the gathered evidence did not provide the necessary grounds for prosecution, which led to the discontinuation of the investigation,” explains Syk-Jankowska.
In reference to media accounts of possible ties between contractors of the company managed by Bartosz K. and the activities of suspected criminals in the former Soviet Union, the spokesperson explained that it was not enough to conclude that the money was actually derived from crime.
The detention of Bartosz K.
Bartosz K. was detained on 22 June 2021 by Internal Security Agency officers and then brought to the Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin. Following the prosecutor’s request, he was remanded in custody for three months, on the condition that the detention will be lifted if the suspect posts a bail of PLN 300 000. The District Court in Lublin did not consider the prosecutor’s appeal in this regard, and after depositing PLN 300 thousand bail, Bartosz K. left the detention facility.
At that time, the prosecutor’s office reported that in the years 2012-2016 Bartosz K. allegedly issued 46 VAT invoices for unspecified consulting services to 11 foreign contractors, amounting to a total of ca. PLN 5.3 million.
“Bartosz K.’s business partners only included entities operating in the so-called tax havens, such as Belize or the Seychelles, or businessmen posing as economic players and based in virtual headquarters,” reported the prosecutor’s service in 2021, adding that the funds obtained from foreign entities were transferred to, among others, the Open Dialogue Foundation.
Bartosz K. is CEO of Silk Road Biuro Analiz i Informacji, a consulting firm, whose activities – as recorded in the National Court Register – have been suspended since March of this year. He is also the Chair of the Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation, which is run by Lyudmyla Kozlovska. In 2018, she was listed as an undesirable person in Poland. After the change of government, at the end of 2023, the court ordered her name to be removed from this list. Then in November this year, Kozlovska filed with the prosecution service a notification of a suspected criminal offence by the Internal Security Agency’s officers, and Head of the Office for Foreigners, consisting in the consideration by these institutions that she posed a threat to the national security, which occurred during the Law and Justice’s rule.
Source: tvn24.pl
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In other media:
- OKO.press: The prosecution service discontinued its investigation against Bartosz Kramek after 7 years. The case dossier comprises over 10,000 pages (December 16, 2024)
- Gazeta Wyborcza: Years of Ziarkiewicz-led lawfare against Kramek. ‘No grounds for prosecution’ (December 10, 2024)
- Polskie Radio Lublin: Lublin: Discontinuation of the investigation against the Chair of the Board (December 10, 2024)
- TOK FM: The services are focused on ODF. “Let’s dig up some dirt on Kramek” (December 6, 2024)