“This was supposed to be money given under the table.” We reveal new details about the grant for the Profeto Foundation
– When the money from the fund appeared, Jan came to me and said that Father Michał had to pay the appropriate people from the fund, who were involved in this. We had to figure out how to do it, because it was supposed to be money given under the table – says the main contractor of the Profeto Foundation center built for PLN 100 million from the Justice Fund in an interview with tvn24.pl and OKO.press.
- According to an extensive report by Piotr W., who also faces charges in the Justice Fund case, the Profeto Foundation investment was planned even before PiS came to power. Already in 2017 – three years before the Justice Fund competition – Father Michał O. allegedly knew that he would receive money from Zbigniew Ziobro's ministry.
- During the construction, Piotr W. – as he claims – with the knowledge and approval of Father O. and his father, traded fake invoices, and shared the profits from this procedure – i.e. money from the Justice Fund – with Profeto and the priest's father.
- Father Michał O., with the help of Piotr W., allegedly siphoned PLN 3.65 million from the Justice Fund thanks to a fictitious plot of land lease.
- We have established that the first investigation into subsidies for Profeto was discontinued by the prosecutor’s office in 2022, when the prosecutor general was Zbigniew Ziobro, an acquaintance of Father Michał O.
- Today, Piotr W. is cooperating with the prosecutor's office. The version he presents refutes the narrative of Father Michał O., as well as the politicians of Sovereign Poland, who have defended the subsidy for Profeto from the beginning, and call the actions of the new authorities of the Ministry of Justice and the prosecutor's office a political and anti-church campaign.
Piotr W. is the president of the Tiso company, which in 2020 was selected by the Profeto Foundation as the general contractor of the assistance center for victims of crime called Archipelag.
At the end of 2022, W. was arrested on charges of issuing false invoices and tax fraud. He spent almost a year and a half in custody. He admitted to the charges brought against him by investigators.
Today Piotr W. – like the former head of the Justice Fund Department, Tomasz Mraz – cooperates with the prosecutor's office.
We reported on tvn24.pl at the beginning of April that he was also charged in the investigation into the subsidy for Profeto. It concerns money laundering and causing significant damage to economic turnover.
Charges and arrests for people connected to the donation to the Profeto Foundation. It concerns 66 million złotyMaciej Knapik/Fakty TVN
A tvn24.pl reporter and an OKO.press reporter talked to Piotr W. (he did not agree to reveal his last name). He told us his story of building the Archipelag.
Record donation
Let us recall: Profeto, known for running Catholic media, received PLN 43 million from the Justice Fund in 2020 to build a support center for crime victims. In the following years, the ministry Zbigniew Ziobro increased the subsidy to a record PLN 98.8 million. Managed to pay out PLN 66 million: the last tranches were blocked by the new Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar.
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