The head of KRRiT again loses the deposit fee case for TVP

The Warsaw regional court refused to accept another tranche of the radio-television subscription for Polish Television, submitted by KRRiT chief Maciej Świrski.

Maciej Świrski applied to the territory Court for Warsaw-Mokotów to accept PLN 23.56 million in a judicial deposit, which was another installment of a radio-television subscription for Polish Television. The KRRiT has not submitted fresh tranches of the TVP subscription and most public radio stations since February. Swirski argued that it was disputed whether TVP could be liquidated and who had the right to represent the company. He pointed out that the TVP liquidator did not cooperate with the KRRiT, and in connection with the liquidation of the TVP suspended any of its tasks. He besides pointed to the existence of 2 legal entities: Polish tv and Polish tv in liquidation. The Court of First Instance did not accept these arguments, stressing that according to KRS TVP is in liquidation and that the liquidator is entitled to manage the company.

This is one more time erstwhile the court refused to accept a deposit fee. In May, the Warsaw-Mokotów territory Court, on whose behalf the referendarz acted, dismissed the application for the erstwhile tranche, and the court in Gdańsk decided likewise on the issue of money for Radio Gdańsk. On the another hand, KRRiT succeeds in the dispute with TVP over non-subscription. The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw rejected TVP's complaint against the resolution of the KRRiT, which directs funds from the subscription to a judicial deposit. However, the court considered that TVP could complain about the inaction of KRRiT by another mode.

Following that ruling, the Head of the KRRiT circulated propaganda in the public media informing that the WSA confirmed the Council's position on the legality of the Council's action.

The following communication was published on the KRRiT website on Wednesday:

‘The WSA confirms the legality of the way licence funds are paid through judicial deposits. The WSA confirmed the position of the National Council that the way in which funds are paid for the implementation of the public service mission via a judicial deposit is only a alleged material-technical act which cannot be brought before the administrative court."

Does the WSA ‘confirm the legality of the way licence funds are paid through judicial deposits’?

Contrary to the Council, NO!

"Despite the information contained on the KRRiT website, the Court of First Instance, by issuing this provision, did not confirm the legality of the payment of licence funds via judicial deposits," WSA writes.

The administrative court did not examine the case in substance at all, since the decision of the KRRiT to suspend the transfer of money to companies is not an administrative decision, but ‘is the nature of an interior law aimed at the body within its structure, i.e. the president of the KRRiT, and is not addressed to a circumstantial 'external' addressee, an individual entity. That act so does not imply any rights and obligations for the parties to the proceedings.’

I WSA considered that the decision of the KRRiT was not subject to a complaint before the administrative court. The claims were so rejected.

However, the Court informed the companies that if the Council continues to hold their money, “they are entitled to a complaint against the inaction of the president of the KRRiT.”

‘The court considered that the payment of funds for the implementation of the public service mission, like the reimbursement of the tax, is simply a material and method activity for which, in the event of its failure to comply with the timetable set out in the agenda of 18 October 2023, the transmission in 2024 of the proceeds of subscription fees from the KRRiT bank account to public broadcasting companies is served by a complaint to the administrative court against the inactivity of the body’, states the WSA Communication.

We remind you that the KRRiT has since April paid further tranches of the radio subscription for you and Radio Poznań, due to the fact that their liquidators have been officially included in the KRS. For another public stations and TVP entries to the KRS are invalid. Swirski stated that the tranches would be transferred where they would not be taken by unauthorised persons, in accordance with the Rtv Apprenticeship Act.

The public broadcasters disagree with KRRiT's suspension of payments. Paweł Majcher, liquidator of Polish Radio, reported suspicion of crime by Świrski. The territory Prosecutor's Office of Warsaw-Mokotów initiated proceedings in this case. TVP's liquidator, Daniel Gorgosz, demanded that Swirski pay about PLN 142 million of late proceeds from the rtv subscription. Polish Radio and regional public announcements run a run informing about the deficiency of funds from the subscription to the public mission.