Aggravating study by NIK on the Justice Fund

The audit at the Justice Fund showed gross inefficiencies, certification of untruth in papers and embezzlement of public funds - deputy chief NIK Michał Jędrzejczyk informed on Tuesday of irregularities in the functioning of the FS during the PiS.

As a consequence of the irregularities detected during this check, NIK has formulated over 90 post-control applications. In 21 cases, the Chamber demanded reimbursement of public funds spent unlawfully or in a contract, in the full amount - at this phase of control - over PLN 65 million.

"Rare inefficiencies"

On Tuesday, the ultimate Audit Board presented the results of the checks on the functioning of the Justice Fund from the time of the PiS governments, relating to beneficiaries of grants from that Fund. The audit started last May and includes years 2021-2025, subject to the agreement being concluded between 2019 and 2023. Agreements for which the transfer of public funds has already taken place and at least a partial settlement by the fund's authorising officer have been selected. The NIK auditors completed their activities with 22 grant contract contractors to which follow-up requests were addressed.

Deputy Head of the home Michał Jędrzejczyk informed at a press conference about Transfer of control arrangements to the Minister of Justice in view of the passage of time which could make it hard for the Minister to take corrective action or to enforce the amounts of grants collected to an excessive extent. In addition, the results were besides passed on to the national prosecutor to be able to usage them in ongoing investigations.

In the case of the FS, the investigation is conducted by the National Prosecutor's Office's Office's investigation squad No. 2. PK informed on platform X that prosecutors from the squad "are acquainted with the results of the control of the NIK concerning the usage of public funds by beneficiaries of the Justice Fund".

It was ensured that "the submitted PK documentation will be analysed and utilized in evidence during the investigation". "NIK found irregularities in Profeto Foundation confirm prosecution's findings" - indicated PK at the same time.

The Vice-President of the House, summarising the audit, stated that it has shown "many cases of gross inefficiencies in the provision of public funds, implementation of expenditure in violation of the law applicable and grant agreements, certification of untruth in papers and cases of fraud of public funds".

Findings of the Profeto Foundation

The detailed study was presented by the control coordinator Paweł Gibula, referring to Profeto Foundation Fr Michał Olszewski, to which (and 5 others) an indictment has already been sent to the Warsaw territory Court.

Gibula recalled that the Profeto Foundation received a grant from the FS for the construction of a individual assistance centre to victims of the alleged "Archipelago - force Free Islands". Assistance to victims was to be provided under contract for a year, in 2024. He pointed out that already the bid made by the foundation in the FS competition was "definably vague, vague". As he said, it does not indicate, among others, the size of the facility, the number of its premises or the connection to the tasks referred to in the grant.

"The basic conclusion that follows from the analysis of this offer is that Minister of Justice (the ministry was then headed by Zbigniew Ziobro, presently MP of PiS - ed.) granted a grant of PLN 43 million, and yet almost PLN 100 million, not knowing in fact what this money will be spent on" - said the coordinator. According to the results of the inspection, expenditure of PLN 3.5 million was provided for aid to the victims, and in the remainder the building "could in practice be freely utilized by the Profeto Foundation for any purpose".

The increase in the amount from 43 million to nearly 100 million was due in turn to the "radical increase" of construction, equipment, or administrative costs, and the requests to include annexes expanding the amount of the grant "did not contain any justification in practice". The gibula pointed out that The authorising officer of the FS did not request papers confirming the actual incurred costs. However, according to the results of the NIK, MS decisions to increase the grant were made within a fewer days after the Foundation's application was sent.

The audit besides shows that the president of the Foundation Fr. Olszewski visited the Fund's typical before the competition, and the evaluation of offers for this competition was amended in specified a way that the Profeto Foundation received more points in the competition than another offers.

In addition, the Foundation was not prepared, in the opinion of NIK, to execute the tasks included in the offer. Gibula pointed out that Profeto had no experience in carrying out tasks related to the assistance of the victim, nor did she have experience in carrying out tasks specified as the construction of the centre. In his opinion, the offer of that foundation should be rejected during the formal evaluation phase and for the substantive evaluation - shouldn't be allowed.

According to the audit results, the foundation did not have the right to freely dispose of the game on which the investment was to be created, as 6/13 of the property did not belong to it. The gibula besides pointed to the deficiency of anticipation of putting the property into service by 2030 due to the deficiency of connection to any media - the construction of the water supply network was planned for 2026 and the sewage network for 2030-2031.

Moreover, the results of the checks indicate that certification of untruth in papers relating to the receipt of works. Namely, the execution of these works was to proceed after their payment and after signing the papers concerning their receipt. The message of untruth was besides to mention to the reporting documentation of the authorising officer whose foundation was to inform prematurely about the completion of the work phases or the receipt of materials.

"All these circumstances have the intention of extorting grants" - said the Gibberish. "However, from our findings, from the documentation we have at our disposal, we know that the de facto trustee of the fund had cognition of costs and accepted specified a situation, specified backing activities" - he added.

Service prices were raised

NIK besides presented the results of the investment controls Foundation Strong in Spirit from Łódź. NIK indicated that the amount of the grant amounted to PLN 16 million, of which PLN 11.5 million was intended to cover the costs of the construction investment and equipment of the building in the centre of Łódź. However, the offer was not accompanied by a construction task or a cost estimate, and Instead of the planned 15 fresh rooms for the implementation of prevention tasks for children and young people, a four-storey building was built in which 56 rooms were created., including any of them being assigned to the Foundation's headquarters.

As an example of the inflating of the prices of services financed by the FS, the gibule besides indicated Alegoria Foundation, which commissioned the implementation of 2 contracts co-financed by the FS, precisely the Profeto Foundation. As a result, the implementation of these services has been overpaid over PLN 1.8 million compared to the marketplace price. Gibula pointed out, among others, that the improvement of the Horizon.pl portal cost the foundation PLN 300 thousand, and in the expert's opinion these services amounted to a maximum of PLN 13,500.

In turn, according to NIK, Foundation for the Centre for Harmful Assistance and Crime Prevention It was expected to pay PLN 590 1000 for the construction, maintenance and promotion of the website znawfacty.pl. In the opinion of NIK, this amount is higher by almost PLN 431 1000 than the marketplace value of these services.

The gibula besides assessed that from the funds of the FS financing was not compatible with the subject of the contracts. An example Association of Media Friends from Szczecin, which received a grant of over PLN 7.7 million, among others, for the construction of local online news services. The coordinator reported that the funds received were used, inter alia, to produce material promoting circumstantial political parties and politicians. "In addition, a number of articles uncover statements that can be classified as the alleged hatred speech" - said NIK.

The same association was intended to finance salaries for the people closest to the then president of the association - including MBA studies and an English course.

"These findings do not exhaust the full scale of irregularities. The NIK will study on further actions as shortly as they are completed" - the erstwhile findings on the FS were summarised on the home website.

PAP