Katowice. The creator of the Red is Bad brand, Paweł S., will not leave prison

This was announced by prosecutor Sebastian Głuch and defense attorney Adam Klepczyński.

On Thursday, the Katowice district court considered the defense's complaint against the application of the most severe preventive measure against S.. It did not accept the complaint and upheld the decision of the district court, which decided at the beginning of November that Paweł S. should remain in custody until January 28.

Paweł S. has been wanted since October 10 with an Interpol red notice. Earlier, an arrest warrant and a European arrest warrant were issued for him. At the end of October he was deported from Dominican Republicwhere he was detained a few days earlier. The next day, in the Silesian department of the PK in Katowice, he was charged with participation in an organized criminal group, cooperation in the abuse of powers by public officials representing RARS and money laundering. He was interrogated for several days.

The prosecutor's office does not say how he responded to the charges – whether he pleaded guilty to them or not; she only said that he was giving explanations.

The PK announced the issuance of a decision to bring charges against the former head of RARS, Michał K. and Paweł S., regarding irregularities in RARS in August this year. It was about participation in an organized criminal group, failure to fulfill duties and exceeding powers in order to obtain financial benefits.

The investigation into irregularities in RARS was initiated on December 1, 2023. It is being conducted by the Silesian department of the PK in Katowice. It concerns, among others: exceeding the powers and failure to fulfill duties by RARS employees when organizing and implementing the purchase of goods, and thus acting to the detriment of the public interest from February 23, 2021 to November 27, 2023 in Warsaw in order to obtain a financial benefit.

The basis for initiating the investigation was the information collected by CBA classified materials and two notifications on suspicion of committing a crime submitted by the General Inspector of Financial Information. At a later stage of the investigation, the General Inspector of Financial Information submitted two further notifications on suspicion of money laundering.

In a statement, PK wrote that the investigation “explains irregularities that occurred, among others, as a result of the abuse of regulations under the Act on Strategic Reserves, which allow for the omission or simplification of public procurement procedures”, and the irregularities revealed concern the suspicion of preferential treatment of selected economic entities and accepting inflated prices for goods, including, among others: for the supply of power generators, protective masks and other products to counteract the effects of the pandemic COVID-19.

During the investigation, it was also revealed that some of the transactions were concluded despite RARS employees receiving a negative opinion of the CBA regarding the selection of a specific offer, due to reservations about the reliability of the bidder.

According to the findings provided by PK, one of the beneficiaries of this practice was the entity represented by Paweł S. “The evidence shows the suspicion that Paweł S., after agreeing with RARS officials on illegal activities constituting an abuse of powers, led to the conclusion of a number of supply contracts with the agency power generators,” the prosecutor's office said. In total, the entity represented by Paweł S. was to obtain at least PLN 242.6 million from RARS.

“The conclusion and implementation of these contracts were contrary to the principles of impartial and objective treatment of bidders, rational management of public funds, including spending funds in an objective, purposeful and economical manner,” the investigators said.

They also stipulated that the evidence, including the disclosed financial transactions, “indicates the suspicion that after obtaining remuneration from RARS, the suspect committed activities constituting +money laundering+” through numerous bank transfers. “The aim of these activities was to prevent or significantly impede the determination of the criminal origin of these funds, as well as their detection and seizure,” they explained.

According to the PK, these findings are the basis for the allegations presented to S. The suspect faces a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

So far, a total of five people have been charged in the proceedings, including the former president of RARS, Michał K., and three other agency officials. Michał K. was detained in Great Britain and extradition proceedings are pending against him. During the investigation, the prosecutor blocked bank accounts and secured funds in the total amount of PLN 117.6 million. The suspects' property was secured against penalties and penal measures through the use of real estate mortgages and the seizure of cash for a total amount of over PLN 20 million.

PK stipulates that the case is multi-threaded and developing. The investigation was entrusted to the delegation of the Central Anticorruption Bureau in Rzeszów, as well as the Masovian Customs and Tax Office in Warsaw.