Court acquits most defendants in major case involving Warsaw property restitution

The defendants included several individuals, such as lawyers and former officials of the Warsaw City Hall. Among them were Mirosław B., a person dealing with property claims; his collaborator and representative Krzysztof D.; Jacek W. and Iwona P.-Ś., key specialists in the Bureau of Real Estate Management (BGN) at the city hall; Kamil D., an inspector in the same office; Jakub Rudnicki (who gave consent for his personal data to be published); Gertruda J.-F., the head of BGN; Mariusz P., the manager at BGN; as well as legal advisors Jerzy M., Jerzy B., Alina D., and Bogusława D.-R., and notary Leszek Z.

The court found only Jacek W. guilty, sentencing him to 1.5 years in prison and a 20,000 PLN fine. The verdict is not final.

Judge Wojciech Małek, in his justification of the ruling, highlighted the Bierut Decree (Bierut Decree or Warsaw Land Decree of 1945), which was considered by many to be harmful to citizens. "Repairing the wrongs caused by the decree should have been done through the enactment of an appropriate law," emphasized the judge.

He explained that over time, a group of people began acquiring claims to properties in Warsaw, treating it as a regular business activity. Among them were representatives of individuals seeking property restitution who also bought these claims in the names of close family members or associates.

"Such actions raised many doubts and turned into criminal cases," said Judge Małek, noting that there are several such cases in court, one of which had already ended with a final acquittal.

The judge explained that this case involved two types of charges: those related to public office and those related to bribery. He pointed out that the most serious charge against Mirosław B. concerned giving a bribe of 2 million zlotys to Jakub Rudnicki, although Rudnicki was not charged with accepting the bribe.

The prosecution's case was based on witness testimonies, some of which the accused contested.

"A conviction should not rely on evidence that the court could not evaluate, or on evidence that is decisive in determining the guilt of the defendant," Judge Małek stated, adding that the accused must be guaranteed a minimum of rights to defense.

Bribery charges were also made against Jacek W. and Kamil G. In both cases, the decisive evidence was the testimony of Robert N., who died before being questioned by the court.

"Two other charges are based on the testimony of a different witness, whom the court found credible, and as a result, Jacek W. was found guilty," the judge noted.

Kamil D. faced a charge of accepting a bribe of 20,000 zlotys for a property at Saska 56. However, Judge Małek clarified that the decision regarding the property had been made before Kamil D. allegedly accepted the bribe. "The prosecution knows that an official has the right to freely evaluate evidence. Officials can make mistakes, and that is why the prosecution only brought charges against officials for actions involving what is called free evaluation of evidence, where these evaluations were clearly unjustified," Judge Małek explained in his oral statement.

The judge emphasized that the court had conducted extensive evidentiary proceedings during this trial. After the verdict, Jakub Rudnicki, one of the acquitted defendants, commented, said this was already the third acquittal for him in what he described as "political trials."

"This is a complete failure of the prosecution. Let me remind you of the special team of several top prosecutors. And this is the result of their and the CBA’s years of work. Let everyone in Poland ask themselves if it was worth making this political spectacle with Patryk Jaki, so he could win elections in Warsaw and destroy the lives of many people," Rudnicki said.

MEP Patryk Jaki, former First Deputy Minister of Justice, was a founder and chairman of the verification commission that was examining irregularities in the reprivatisation process. In 2018, Jaki was Law and Justice's candidate for Mayor of Warsaw. He received the second-best result with 28,53% of votes, losing the election to current mayor Rafał Trzaskowski who won 56,67%.

The trial lasted more than three years, starting in April 2021. The accused faced a total of 37 charges. According to the prosecution, despite lacking grounds for restitution, Warsaw properties were acquired through bribery. The prosecutors estimated that the damage caused to heirs and the State Treasury amounted to 91,603,760 zlotys, while the total value of bribes was estimated at 2.1 million.

The case concerns properties located on Mokotowska 63 and 40, Emilii Plater 15, Mazowiecka 12, Chopina 16, Poznańska 14, Hoża 23/25 and 25, Saska 56, Schroegera 72, Marszałkowska 141, Nowy Świat 28, and Plac Defilad.