Michał K. again asked the court in London to be released from custody, but the court rejected his request. The London Borough of Westminster Magistrates' Court made this decision at its sitting on Wednesday last week.
The prosecutor's office accuses the former head of the Government Agency of Strategic Reserves, Michał K., of participation in an organized criminal group and of exceeding his powers and failing to fulfill his duties in order to obtain financial benefits. He faces 10 years in prison.
On August 31, he was put on trial European Arrest Warrant and Arrest Warrant covering United Kingdom Great Britain and Ireland North. On September 2, the police detained him in London.
September 3, London Borough of Westminster Magistrates' Court decided that Michał K. would remain in custody until the extradition hearing. The court set the hearing date for February 17-19 next year.
However, at the trial On September 10, the magistrate's court did not agree to release Michał K. on bail.
Michał K. again applied for release from custody. The court disagreed
Michał K. later asked the court again to be released from custody. However, the court in London rejected his request at its hearing on October 2. This information was confirmed by Polish journalist in Great Britain, Jakub Krupa.
Although the hearing was initially scheduled to take place on October 8, the court met earlier. As Krupa learned in a London court, the next hearing in the case involving Michał K. will take place on October 30.
Michał K. was detained in LondonPAP/Marcin Obara
Irregularities in RARS and allegations against Michał K.
The allegations made against K. are the result of an investigation into irregularities in the Government Agency of Strategic Reserves, of which he headed. In addition, allegations were made against Paweł Szopa, the creator of the Red is Bad clothing brand.
The investigation concerns, among other things, what happened during the period from February 2021 to November 2023 abuse of powers and failure to fulfill duties by RARS employees in order to obtain financial benefits. This includes, among others: about the supply by Paweł Szopa's companies of power generators to the government agency for PLN 350 million, even though he had previously purchased them himself in China for less than PLN 70 million.
What did Michał K. say?
Earlier, K., before his arrest, gave an interview favorable PIS the wPolityce.pl portal, which spread government propaganda during the previous government. He said he was looking for a job in London. He announced that he wanted to return to Poland when “he will have a guarantee of a fair trial.” He also said that the Polish prosecutor's office is politicized, and he is being prosecuted for the sake of a “cool image” for the current government.
The investigators' actions against Michał K. and Paweł Szopa are the next stage of the proceedings that have been conducted since the beginning of December last year – first at the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, and from April – by the Silesian Branch of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office in Katowice.
As part of the investigation, two people were arrested earlier, in July. She was the director of the RARS Purchasing Office and a former department head in this office. The prosecutor accused them of exceeding their powers in connection with the performance of public functions, which consisted in “preferential treatment of certain RARS contractors in connection with the implementation of an EU grant in the amount of EUR 114 million for the supply of power generators for Ukraine.”
Main photo source: Marcin Obara/PAP