– The Lower Silesian KAS determined that the president of a foundation that was supposed to help sick children had devised a mechanism to defraud donors of their money. He was also the management board president of several companies, transferred money from charitable collections to them, and then purchased real estate and luxury cars – reports Agnieszka Rzeźnicka-Gniadek, press spokesperson for the Lower Silesian National Revenue Administration.

She adds: – The companies did not file tax returns or financial statements. The KAS discovered that only 1% of the funds collected reached children in need.

The foundation’s websites advertised 72 charitable collections for more than PLN 19.8 million. According to information published on the organization’s website, the amounts collected did not exceed PLN 1.1 million. The spokesperson says: – In reality, more than 560,000 donors paid over PLN 28.5 million into the foundation’s bank accounts.

Customs and Tax Service officers and police searched 46 locations, questioned 55 people, and arrested the foundation’s president. He was charged with:

  • causing 560,000 people to disadvantageously dispose of property worth more than PLN 20.2 million;
  • committing fiscal criminal offenses intended to understate CIT within various business entities by more than PLN 7.2 million;
  • money laundering.

The president was remanded in custody for three months.

The authorities secured assets belonging to the foundation’s president and the companies owned by him:

  • 33 properties worth more than PLN 9.8 million;
  • 3 luxury passenger cars worth more than PLN 1.2 million;
  • cash: more than PLN 615,000, over USD 6,500, and more than EUR 2,300.

The prosecutor blocked nearly PLN 1.8 million in the bank accounts of the foundation and its subsidiaries.