In October 2023, Law and Justice won the local elections, but did not obtain a majority. Therefore, the coalition took over power over the state and began to carefully analyze the actions of its predecessors to see if they had accidentally violated rights or exposed the country to losses. They also began to check their activities on Public Television. And it turns out that some irregularities were found and the District Prosecutor's Office was notified. It took appropriate action in the case.
CBA at the headquarters of Polsat and TVP. It's about national team matches
As reported “Onet”the case most likely concerns two contracts concluded between TVP and Polsat. The first one dates from 2018, and the second one was signed three years later. They concerned sublicenses for broadcasting matches of the Polish national team.
Therefore, the Central Anticorruption Bureau took action on Thursday. According to journalists, the CBA entered the Polsat headquarters. “Before 9 a.m., three CBA agents arrived at the company and, in connection with the decision of the District Prosecutor's Office in Krosno, asked for documentation related to contracts with TVP SA. The documentation was handed over, the agents completed their activities a long time ago and left our headquarters after writing the minutes. handing over the original documents,” Tomasz Matwiejczuk told “Onet”.
The prosecutor's office also commented on the case. “Activities are ongoing, including securing documentation, in the investigation initiated on April 29, 2024 by the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw – and then transferred on September 13, 2024 for further conduct to the District Prosecutor's Office in Krosno – regarding acting to the detriment of Telewizja Polska SA, namely: failure to fulfill obligations and abuse of powers by persons obliged under the law to deal with property matters of the Telewizja Polska SA entity through lack of care for the company's assets, in connection with expressing consent and concluding an agreement with Telewizja Polsat sp. z o. o. on a sublicense for the broadcasting of sports events, which caused significant material damage to Telewizja Polska SA, i.e. an act under Article 296 § 1 and § 3 of the Penal Code and others,” prosecutor Marta Kolendowska-Matejczuk informed the above-mentioned editorial office.
Great damage could have occurred
As reported HRthe CBA had previously undertaken similar actions at the TVP headquarters. The aim is to check whether Telewizja Publiczna has not suffered any damage as a result of the concluded contracts. She also provided new information “Gazeta Wyborcza”.
“As we wrote, the findings of the internal audit of public television show that TVP and Polsat purchased the rights to retransmit matches from each other in two agreements (from 2018 and 2021). TVP paid Polsat for a sublicense for volleyball and football matches in total EUR 90 million, overpaying dearly. For the rights to football matches, UEFA received only EUR 5 million from Polsat – much less than the value. The difference, to the detriment of the public television, is expected to be EUR 85 million – PLN 360-370 million, depending on the exchange rate. we read.