The territory Attorney's Office of Warsaw – Prague directed 11 people to the territory Court of Warsaw, including 8 Ukrainian citizens and 3 Polish citizens.
The allegations concern activities in an organized criminal group aimed at obtaining property benefits by illegally facilitating the entry and residence of foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland.
The investigation, conducted for more than 2 years, was the consequence of actions of Border defender officers from Warsaw-Modlin in cooperation with the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Central Police Investigation Office in Olsztyn. In the course of the investigation, more than 1600 cases related to the issue of temporary residence permits and work for foreigners and kind A permits were secured for work in Poland. More than 70 witnesses were besides interviewed.
The defendants were assigned to participate in an organized criminal group, which qualifies as an act under Article 258(1) of the Criminal Code. Additionally, 1 of the accused, a Polish citizen of Ukrainian origin, heard allegations of directing a criminal group (Article 258 §3 kk) and of utilizing threats of beating and imprisonment to influence another accused (Article 245 kk).
The group was active in issuing false papers that enabled foreigners to legalise their stay in Poland against regulations. This procedure was of financial benefit to the perpetrators, which constitutes the offence referred to in Article 264a(1) in conjunction with Article 272 of the Criminal Code.
The group operated from 2017 to 2019, allowing an illegal stay in Poland a crucial number of foreigners. Among them were citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, but besides people from countries specified as Ghana, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Morocco.
In the case of 7 persons, the court applied temporary detention and besides imposed property safety of a full value exceeding PLN 120,000. Of the 11 defendants, 8 admitted their alleged actions and voluntarily surrendered to punishment, including group leader, a citizen of Ukrainian Poland.
For: strazbrzyczna.pl
