Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Polish ferry terminal - port of call for corruption?

From: WBJ
Possible corruption which involves PO and PSL politicians is being investigated.

The former head of Ferry Terminal Swinoujscie (FTS), Agnieszka Szewczyk-Jurczyk, is being investigated by the Prosecutor's Office for allegedly paying for services which were never realized, Gazeta Wyborcza has reported.

Politicians from Civic Platform (PO) and the Polish People's Party (PSL) are also among the people allegedly involved in the case.

FTS manages the ferry port Swinoujscie, one of the biggest terminals on the Baltic. It is owned by Polish Terminals, which is headed by Bartlomiej Pachis, the leader of a regional branch of PO. In turn, Polish Terminals is under the control of the Szczecin and Swinoujscie Seaports Authority, whose president is PO politician Jaroslaw Siergiej.

The transactions in question took place between March and October 2009, when Ms Szewczyk-Jurczyk was head of the FTS. She joined PO in July, but left in October when she resigned from her post at the ferry terminal.

“We are investigating what happened to the money from the contracts,” Jaroslaw Przewolny from the Chief Prosecutor's Office in Kamiel Pomorski told Gazeta Wyborcza. The investigators were alerted by the supervisory board of FTS, which investigated Ms Szewczyk-Jurczyk's activities after she left the firm.

One of the contracts was signed with Daniel Dziwulski, who helped run several election campaigns for PO MP Magdalena Kochan. He was to be paid zl.500,000 over three years for marketing services. Although he was to receive zl.15,900 a month, a few days after signing the contract he collected zl.140,000. FTS's supervisory board has been unable to find exact details of what services Mr Dziwulski actually provided for the company.

Another deal was signed with a company headed by Agnieszka Szewczyk-Jurczyk's husband, PSL member Wlodzimierz Jurczyk. She is also a co-owner of the firm.

In addition, the supervisory board found that some invoices had been paid without any proof that the contractors had actually fulfilled their obligations.