Paweł Pecura, president of the eDotacje company and a PiS councilor, encouraged entrepreneurs to apply for funding for yachts from the KPO (National Waterway Programme). He helped them prepare the relevant documents. He now emphasizes that the number of boat applications increased also because they were favorably assessed by experts in the grant competition.
Paweł Pecura is a Law and Justice councilor from Ostrów Mazowiecka and a social assistant to Marcin Grabowski, a member of parliament from the same party. He also serves as president of eDotacje, a company that raises funding for businesses. He became widely known at the beginning of the scandal surrounding the National Reconstruction Plan (KPO). It turned out that the grants, intended to support business operations, were used to finance yachts, furniture replacement, solariums, and bridge lessons, among other things. Videos of Paweł Pecura, wearing a captain's cap, urging entrepreneurs to apply for yacht grants, were circulating online. He himself deleted the videos from social media, but the videos were publicized and reposted online by Civic Coalition politicians, including MP Piotr Borys:
🔥 Hey PiS! WHO WROTE THE APPLICATIONS FOR… YACHTS from KPO 🇪🇺⁉️ Your PiS councilor Paweł Pecura from Ostrów Mazowiecka 😱
Posted by Piotr Borys on Saturday, August 9, 2025
“Don't miss this opportunity”
“Want to expand your business into a new, exciting area? I have great news for you. The second round of applications for the HoReCa program opens on July 18th, offering up to PLN 540,000 in non-repayable funding from the European Union. This is a great opportunity for companies in the hotel, restaurant, catering, tourism, and culture sectors,” he encouraged in one of the videos.
“We achieved considerable success in the first round, and our applications topped the ranking lists. We have a 100% success rate. Don't miss this opportunity,” he added.
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The company also boasts of its high efficiency in raising funds for entrepreneurs on the eDotacje website. It states that “the company successfully secured over PLN 760,000 in funding from the European Union to support local businesses operating in the HoReCa sector (hotels, restaurants, catering).”
Called to array
Following the publicity surrounding the scandal involving controversial subsidies, including for yachts, Paweł Pecura published a video on YouTube.
” I felt called to the table. I've been involved in obtaining EU funds for 10 years, and now I run a company that does just that (…). We all remember how hotels and restaurants were closed during the pandemic. I personally feel a strong sentiment towards companies in this area, because my parents have been running a catering company for many, many years, and I know what it was like for them during the pandemic, how much their turnover dropped,” Paweł Pecura said in the recording.
He recalled that KPO grants could be obtained for diversification of activities.
“It was understood to mean that something new had to be done than had been done before. The idea was that if the restaurant closed during another pandemic, the business would have revenue from another source that would allow it to survive. One of our clients spent a long time considering what he could do with his restaurant and came up with the idea: since the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development indicated on its website that boats could be subsidized, and he himself is a sailor, he would launch a yacht charter business in Masuria. And this idea was picked up by others,” explained the CEO of eDotacje.
Now these companies may lose liquidity
He pointed out that “we now have a situation where recruitment for the HoReCa program has ended, and entrepreneurs have signed agreements with the Polish state to finance their investments. Information on how the KPO funds were spent is being made public.”
– And that is very good, because society should know what public money is spent on – he emphasized.
He also referred to the announced inspections and suspension of payments to entrepreneurs.
“If such a yacht is sitting under a blanket, waiting to be sold sometime in the future, that's great. Such projects should be monitored and those responsible should be held accountable. But if such yachts are actually purchased, sail, and clients rent them, contracts are signed, and invoices are issued, then this activity is being carried out to the extent to which the applicant committed to the project. Withholding funding for entrepreneurs now could result in them losing their financial liquidity, and these funds from the HoReCa program will not only help these entrepreneurs but will also ruin their businesses, ” Pecura pointed out.
It was not the companies that came up with these criteria
He emphasized that “it was not entrepreneurs who came up with this recruitment.”
“It wasn't entrepreneurs who came up with the criteria, it wasn't entrepreneurs who came up with the idea that boats could be subsidized. It was the ministry or the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development who came up with it, and let these institutions take responsibility for the documents they created, ” Pecura added.
He also referred to posts made by Civic Coalition politicians, responding to comments that he helped obtain “controversial subsidies.”
“Take responsibility for the institutions under your control. For the Ministry, for the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Do you really think anyone will believe that a councilor from Ostrów Mazowiecka had such a huge influence on the spending of funds from the HoReCa program? That this councilor established the regulations, rules, criteria, and what could be financed from this program, and not these state-controlled institutions? In any case, I hope this matter will have a positive outcome, that if there were any irregularities, they will all be found, and that consequences will be drawn,” Pecura said.
Three types of offers
How much did entrepreneurs pay the CEO of eDotacje for help in writing applications for yacht financing? We learn this in his interview with money.pl.
“We had three offers at the KPO. The first was a fee for preparing the application and a commission on the amount of funding received. The second option was a smaller fee for preparing the application but a higher commission. And the third option was PLN 0 for preparing the application, with only a commission payable, which was higher if the application received funding,” Pecura told money.pl.
A moment later he explains:
“The first offer was PLN 5,000 plus a 5% commission on the net amount obtained. The second option was PLN 3,000 net for writing the application and a 7% commission on the amount obtained. And the third option was PLN 0 for writing the application and a 10% commission on signing the contract by the subsidized client. 10% of the subsidy value, when it is awarded,” describes the president of eDotacje.
He adds that entrepreneurs most often chose the first option.
The number of boat requests was increasing
He also points out that the popularity of applications for yacht subsidies was significantly greater in the second competition with EU funds.
“After the first recruitment, our consulting industry learned that diversification truly must be significant and visible. It wasn't about someone running a pizzeria and serving margherita, so now they'll also be serving quattro formaggi. This was about something completely different, but it was necessary to stay within the PKD codes specified by PARP. In the first round of the first recruitment, there were very few yachts. Later, the number of applications for boats increased, but also because they were favorably assessed by the evaluators. Consulting firms and the HoReCa industry simply learned that yacht charter can be a diversification,” says the source from money.pl.
She reminds that the possibility of co-financing yachts in the competition was confirmed by PARP in the questions and answers on its website.
– As an entrepreneur, I look at it this way: if a public institution offers a given opportunity, we can take advantage of it – he emphasizes.
Clarify doubts, but in a balanced way
He adds that he “understands the public's outrage” but also wants to clarify all doubts surrounding this matter.
“A yacht is associated with luxury, and when you add to this the fact that there may have actually been some irregularities in the granting of subsidies, that people took them on boats for their own use, then I certainly agree that this shouldn't be the case. The role of the political opposition is to publicize such scandals and call for inspections. However, the decision about inspections, made by the ministry or the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) , should be balanced in such a way that honest entrepreneurs don't suffer, but those who committed abuses should certainly feel the pinch,” says the source from money.pl.
Pecura prepared a total of five applications for yacht subsidies. As a reminder, in a competition for subsidies for the HoReCa industry , entrepreneurs were awarded funding for a total of 107 yachts. Each could receive up to 540,000 PLN in subsidies.
Highlanders preferred subsidies for jacuzzis and saunas
As a reminder, the scandal began with the publication on the KPO website of a map showing companies that received funding. Certain regional patterns can be observed. For example, companies operating in northern and central Poland applied for the purchase of yachts. However, such applications are nowhere to be found in the south of the country. What was the KPO funding used for in Podhale? As previously described, most highlanders applying for support received subsidies for spa services, including jacuzzis and saunas.
Were there any irregularities in the awarding and distribution of subsidies? This will be determined by extensive audits announced last week by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Minister of Funds and Regional Policy Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz. Their results are expected to be known by mid-September.
The prosecutor's office has also taken up the matter of controversial KPO subsidies. Immediately after the scandal was revealed, the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw initiated an ex officio investigation. However, the proceedings were transferred to the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
– The proceedings will be conducted by independent prosecutors – emphasized Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek.
Fraud from KPO equivalents in other countries
It's worth noting that Poland began using the National Recovery and Resilience Facility (KPO) with significant delay. Other countries began spending grants for this purpose from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (KPO is part of it) much earlier, and audits conducted in those countries revealed numerous abuses. Grant programs, intended to help companies rebuild their businesses, are being treated by fraudsters as bottomless pits, squandering millions of euros in this way. Here are some interesting cases of fraud from other countries.
