2024-10-28 20:03 update: 2024-10-28, 20:08
Photo PAP/Radek Pietruszka
The Catholic Profeto Foundation misappropriated several million euros that were allocated to it from the justice ministry's Justice Fund, the National Prosecutor's Office (PK) has stated.
The Gazeta Wyborcza (GW) newspaper reported on Monday that a portion of the funds granted to Profeto from the victim support fund established by the Justice Ministry under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) administration was utilised for the personal expenses of its president, Father Michal Olszewski.
A total of PLN 55 million (EUR 12.6 mln) from the grant was allocated to finance Profeto's centre for victims of abuse, while PLN 13 million (EUR 3 mln) was used for "other purposes" by private individuals, including the priest and his family, as reported by the daily. According to GW, prosecutors examining illegal disbursements from the Justice Fund have uncovered 11 questionable transactions, which encompass cash withdrawals and expenditures made with a card issued to the foundation for expenses such as shopping, dining, hotel stays, and travel by train and plane.
In an interview with GW, Prosecutor Przemyslaw Nowak, who is the PK spokesperson, confirmed some of the allegations. He said that the entire amount Profeto received from the Justice Fund was granted without the foundation meeting any formal or substantive criteria. There was a strong suspicion that more than several million zlotys were spent for unrelated purposes, Nowak added. Among those he mentioned PLN 3.5 million (EUR 800,000) paid to a sock manufacturer, PLN 3 million (EUR 700,000) to a media production company and nearly PLN 5 million (EUR 1.1 mln) to a provider of professional recording equipment.
Olszewski was detained by Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) in late March, along with two employees of the justice ministry with ties to the Justice Fund Department. All three were released on bail of PLN 350,000 (EUR 80,500) last Friday. (PAP)
wpb/jch
