Nearly PLN 500,000 from KGHM. Supreme Court overturns acquittal of four former employees

On 12 August 2026, the Supreme Court heard the cassation appeal filed by the Legnica Regional Prosecutor’s Office. It fully upheld the prosecutor’s arguments and overturned the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Wrocław, which acquitted four former KGHM employees in October 2025.

The case will now return to the Court of Appeal in Wrocław, which will hear it in a different panel. The date of the renewed decision is not yet known.

The case concerns nearly PLN 500,000

The proceedings concern events from 2013–2018 (through 31 March) in Lubin. According to the prosecutor’s findings, the accused allegedly caused KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. to make an unfavorable disposition of its property by certifying false information in documentation concerning working time and descents into the mine.

Investigators accused Tadeusz I., head of the Standardization Department at one of KGHM’s facilities, and three employees of that department – Piotr P., Paweł K. and Piotr S. – of misleading the employer as to the amount of remuneration due.

This concerned, among other things, recording overtime work and reports on underground descents. The prosecutor’s office alleged that this resulted in undue funds being paid.

The total value of the damage was set at nearly PLN 500,000.

Convictions were handed down first

The Legnica Regional Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment with the court in June 2021.

On 11 April 2024, the Legnica Regional Court issued a conviction.

Tadeusz I. was sentenced to one year and six months’ imprisonment and fined PLN 50,000. The court also ordered him to repair the damage in the amount of PLN 188,103.68.

The other three accused – Paweł K., Piotr P. and Piotr S. – each received one-year prison sentences suspended for a one-year probation period. Each was also ordered to pay a fine of PLN 30,000 and repair the damage in the amounts of PLN 83,175.62, PLN 123,090.75 and PLN 97,834.95, respectively.

Court of Appeal acquits four men

The defendants’ lawyers appealed the Regional Court’s judgment.

On 15 October 2025, the Court of Appeal in Wrocław issued an acquittal. It thereby changed the earlier ruling of the Legnica Regional Court.

The prosecutor’s office disagreed with the ruling and referred the case to the Supreme Court.

In January 2026, the prosecutor prepared and filed a cassation appeal, accusing the appellate court of a flagrant violation of procedural law that had affected the content of the judgment.

Supreme Court overturns judgment

On 12 August 2026, the Supreme Court fully upheld the cassation appeal of the Legnica Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

The prosecutor’s office argued that the Court of Appeal in Wrocław had improperly assessed the collected evidence. In the investigators’ view, the evidence was assessed in a manner contrary to the principles of sound reasoning and life experience, leading to erroneous factual findings and, consequently, to the acquittal of the accused.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the evidence collected was sufficient to attribute the alleged acts to the accused.

The Supreme Court overturned the challenged judgment and referred the case back to the Court of Appeal in Wrocław for reconsideration.

The case will return to court

The proceedings have therefore not ended. The case will be heard again by the Court of Appeal in Wrocław, this time in a different panel.

The Legnica Regional Prosecutor’s Office announces that before the court it will seek to uphold the conviction issued in 2024 by the Legnica Regional Court.

For now, it is not known when the Court of Appeal will take up the case again.