Michał Lisiecki, the founder and president of PMPG Polskie Media has been arrested by Poland’s anti-corruption bureau, the CBA, on charges of extortion and bribery.
PMPG is a publishing and advertising agency best known for its influential weekly magazines WPROST and Tygodnik Do Reczy.
Mr Lisiecki is one of four people to have been arrested and detained by the CBA on accusations of extorting and laundering 40 million zloty from a company specialising in the construction and repair of railway infrastructure.
“As it has been determined in the course of the proceedings, the detainees, on the basis of a number of fictitious contracts and verbal agreements, issued fictitious VAT invoices, and based on them, transferred money from the bankrupt estate of one of the companies. They will be charged with abuse of powers, acting to the detriment of a company and document falsification,” said the CBA in a statement.
The latest arrests are part of an ongoing case which began in 2017, when CBA officers arrested five people, including an official receiver acting to the detriment of bankrupt companies. With the addition of the latest arrests, there are now 22 suspects in the case.