The Central Anticorruption Bureau has detained three more people in an investigation into the acceptance of financial benefits by former Deputy Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship, Bartłomiej S., the press service of the Bureau and the National Prosecutor's Office reported on Tuesday.
Those detained by officers from the Katowice branch of the CBA are an architect and two individuals from the real estate development industry from Częstochowa; the woman and two men were apprehended in the Silesian Voivodeship on August 4 and 5, the CBA noted. Agents searched the detainees' apartments and premises at the Częstochowa City Hall and secured evidence.
According to investigators, the detainees allegedly provided financial benefits to the former Deputy Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship, while he was still the Deputy Mayor of Częstochowa, in exchange for favorable considerations in administrative proceedings. The investigation concerns, among other things, the introduction of changes to local development plans for Częstochowa in favor of developers, the Office reported.
The CBA brought the detainees to the Silesian branch of the National Prosecutor's Office's Department for Organized Crime and Corruption, which oversaw the investigation. The prosecutor charged them with bribery of a public official and bid rigging.
Prosecutor Katarzyna Calów-Jaszewska from the PK press department announced that the suspects pleaded guilty to the charges against them, and the prosecutor imposed bails ranging from PLN 20,000 to PLN 50,000 on them, as well as police supervision and a ban on leaving the country.
The Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) and the prosecutor's office have appealed to the Katowice branch of the Bureau for additional individuals who have been entangled in corruption and have provided financial benefits. The CBA reminded that individuals who have given or promised a bribe to a public official and disclose this fact before investigators become aware of it may benefit from the so-called immunity clause.
So far, 11 people have been charged in the investigation, with a total of 16 charges relating to accepting and granting financial benefits to a person holding a public office and laundering criminal money, but the case is still developing, prosecutor Calów-Jaszewska noted. (PAP)
ago/ jann/
