Police officer arrested over bribes. Bolesławiec prosecutor’s office has already questioned him

The man was brought to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Bolesławiec, where he was charged with three offences committed between 6 and 20 May 2020.

It was established that he accepted a financial benefit of €200 in exchange for arranging the lifting of the quarantine requirement for a family living in one of the localities in Lwówek County, before the 14-day period had elapsed from the moment one of its members crossed the Polish-German border.

Marcin S. certified false information in official notes, stating, among other things, that the man had taken a COVID-19 test in Germany and received a negative result, which was supposed to result in him and his family being released from the quarantine requirement.

In addition, Marcin S. demanded a financial benefit of PLN 1,500 from another resident of Lwówek County who was also in quarantine due to crossing the Polish-German border, in exchange for refraining from penalising him for changing his place of stay and for helping lift the quarantine requirement.

When promising to “arrange” the matters, the suspect also invoked his influence in the Border Guard and the Sanitary Inspectorate.

The community officer’s independent decisions to end the quarantine of people who had been placed under it in exchange for accepting financial benefits created a real danger of the epidemic spreading, which could subsequently have posed a threat to the health and lives of residents in the area he monitored. The 41-year-old Marcin S. admitted to committing the alleged acts and provided explanations.

After questioning the suspect, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Bolesławiec submitted a successful application to the local District Court for his temporary detention for a period of three months from the date of his arrest.

The offences with which he was charged under Article 228, paragraphs 3 and 4; Article 230, paragraph 1; and Article 271, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code are punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

As part of the investigation, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Bolesławiec is verifying, among other things, whether the detained officer engaged in similar conduct on other occasions.