The total amount of money defrauded from six research projects exceeded PLN 1,751,000. The indictment dated April 13 this year concerns 10 people: six researchers, who headed the individual grants, and four other people who participated in the scheme or committed plagiarism of other people’s scientific work.

How the money was defrauded

The scheme involved Adam J. and his “team” obtaining funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for computer science research that was not actually carried out. As part of the grants, the defendants entered into contracts with doctoral students, students and random individuals—most often family members or acquaintances with no qualifications to perform the work covered by the contracts—for the completion of individual tasks. Although the defendants knew that the individual tasks had not been completed or had been performed unreliably, they accounted for the allocated funds in final reports that formed the basis for payment. In doing so, they misled Wrocław University of Science and Technology and the Ministry, acting through the National Science Centre. They unlawfully collected payment for the work.

The main organizer of the scheme was Adam J., employed as a professor at Wrocław University of Science and Technology and, since 2001, head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Algorithm Design at the university’s Institute of Computer Science, Control and Robotics. Because he sat on various academic bodies, including institutions involved in conducting competitions for the award of computer science research projects, the defendant had extensive knowledge of how to obtain a grant and knew people who influenced decisions on awarding them.

J. very often recruited people with substantial academic achievements for a project. They were listed as participants during the competition-award stage, but after the grant was awarded, these people “disappeared,” and contracts for the completion of individual tasks were signed with figureheads—people who did not conduct the research and lacked the substantive preparation needed to prepare a report in the field covered by the contract.

Adam J. personally headed only one grant, which did not raise concerns among the people sitting on the bodies conducting the competition procedures (the Committee for Scientific Research and subsequently the National Science Centre). For the heads of the remaining grants “assigned” to the Institute, he designated employees subordinate to him professionally (the co-defendants). The money paid to the figureheads was then returned by them personally to Adam J. or to one of the people he indicated, including the respective grant heads.

Fraud charges and the defendants’ explanations

The individual projects were headed by: Adam J. (66), Maciej L. (41), Tomasz K. (39), Mateusz G. (36), Radosław R. and Andrzej K. (37). All were charged with fraud, meaning the extortion of money from the individual projects. The defendants knew that the work covered by the contracts had not been performed or had been performed by someone else, meaning that the contracts had not been fulfilled and the money should not have been paid.

During the investigation, two projects were challenged in their entirety. The remaining projects were completed to approximately 30–40%. The amount of the fraud was reduced by the value of that work. Charges of aiding and abetting fraud were also brought against 36-year-old Maria K. and 31-year-old Agnieszka R., the wives of the heads of two projects, who were aware of the dishonest nature of the scheme and additionally signed contracts for the completion of individual tasks that they did not actually prepare.

Radosław R. and Andrzej K., as well as their wives, confessed to the crimes and gave extensive explanations. The other defendants did not admit to the charges, although Maciej L. did not admit guilt but provided explanations describing the relations prevailing in the department headed by Adam J.; these essentially confirm the allegations presented by the prosecutor in the indictment.

Plagiarism charges

During the investigation, the prosecutor’s office obtained an expert opinion in the field of scientific misconduct and intellectual property protection. It concluded that three of the six research project heads had committed plagiarism in order to settle the grants. They were Adam J., Tomasz K. and Maciej L. They also faced additional charges under the Act on Copyright and Related Rights.

Adam J. committed three acts of plagiarism: claiming authorship of a fragment of a master’s thesis, a fragment of another person’s report on the implementation of a research project, and part of another person’s doctoral dissertation. Tomasz K. committed two acts of plagiarism: claiming authorship of another person’s algorithm and a fragment of another person’s master’s thesis. Maciej L. committed one act of plagiarism: claiming authorship of a fragment of another person’s master’s thesis. None of them admitted to the acts with which they were charged.

Based on the expert opinion, it was established that two other people who were also charged in the case had likewise committed the offense of claiming authorship of other people’s works. They were 31-year-old Bartosz T., then a doctoral student, and 67-year-old Zofia P.. They claimed, respectively, authorship of fragments of another person’s doctoral dissertation and part of a report authored by other people.

Potential sentences

Apart from Adam J., all the research project heads—Maciej L., Tomasz K., Mateusz G., Radosław R. and Andrzej K.—face up to 10 years in prison for fraud involving property of significant value, as the damage caused by each grant always exceeded PLN 200,000. Maria K. and Agnieszka R. face up to eight years in prison.

Adam J., who was also a public official and who allegedly committed fraud involving property of significant value for financial gain, making it—in the prosecutor’s assessment—a permanent source of income, faces up to 15 years in prison.

Bartosz T. and Zofia P. face up to three years in prison.

The case will be heard by the District Court in Wrocław.

Legnica District Prosecutor’s Office/ii