The Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeals filed by the prosecutor as “obviously groundless” and thus finally ended the case that had been going on for over a decade. This is about a restaurateur from Szczecin who was accused of corruption 11 years ago, spent 18 days in custody, and in March 2023 was legally cleared of the charges. A week ago, the Court of Appeal in Szczecin awarded him PLN 80,000 in compensation. The restaurateur now announces that he will demand PLN 20 million from the state treasury.
As Maciej Brzózka from the Supreme Court press team told us on Tuesday (October 8) Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeals filed by the prosecutor to the detriment of the four convicts as “obviously groundless”.
This concerns, among others, the case of a well-known restaurateur from Szczecin, who 11 years ago was wrongly accused of corrupting officers of the Fiscal Control Office.
The court acquitted him, the prosecutor's office wanted to appeal
It all started in 2013. The Szczecin prosecutor's office detained several entrepreneurs and officials in a corruption case. Years later, the court acquitted them.
The restaurateur was legally cleared of all charges in March 2023. In 2013, the man spent 18 days in pre-trial detention, for which a week ago the Court of Appeal in Szczecin awarded him PLN 80,000 in compensation.
The prosecutor's office filed a cassation appeal against the acquittal verdict, but on Tuesday the Supreme Court dismissed it as “obviously groundless.” Maciej Brzózka told us that in such a case, a written justification of the judgment is not prepared.
According to “Gazeta Wyborcza”, the Supreme Court charged the state treasury with the costs of the cassation proceedings.
“The court stated, among other things, that the prosecutor's office questioned the factual findings in the cassation appeal, which is inadmissible in these proceedings. According to the Supreme Court, there was no 'violation of substantive law'. The court found that a written justification for this decision would not be prepared even upon request, which can be considered as emphasizing the categorical position of the Supreme Court,” we read on the “GW” website.
Restaurateur: the corruption accusation affected not only the business, but also my family
The restaurateur said in an interview with GW that he would demand in civil proceedings at least PLN 20 million in compensation for financial losses caused by the false accusation and compensation for image and moral damage.
– I have hard documentary evidence of financial losses. For example, one of the banks withdrew from financing a very serious investment in Mielno, I lost millions of contracts, some people turned away from me, there were also those who stopped coming to our restaurants,” said the man quoted by Gazeta. – The fact that for ten years I was a man accused of corruption, it affected not only my business but also my family. In court, the prosecutor cited evidence that did not exist, I will not forgive him.
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