11 people accused of facilitating the entry and stay of foreigners in Poland
The District Prosecutor’s Office of Warsaw-Praga has filed an indictment with the District Court in Warsaw against 11 people (8 citizens of Ukraine and 3 citizens of the Republic of Poland) accused of leading and participating in an organized criminal group aimed at deriving financial benefits from the procedure of facilitating and enabling foreigners to enter and stay in the territory of the Republic of Poland in violation of the regulations.
The indictment was filed as a result of an investigation lasting over two years conducted by officers of the Border Guard Post Warsaw-Modlin together with the Department for Combating Organized Criminal Crime of the Olsztyn Board of the Central Bureau of Investigation of the Police. In the case, over 1,600 files of proceedings related to granting temporary residence and work permits to foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland or type A work permits for foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland were secured from the Mazovian Voivodeship Office in Warsaw and examined. In addition, over 70 witnesses were questioned.
The defendants were charged with participation in an organized criminal group, i.e. the act specified in Article 258 § 1 of the Penal Code (in addition, a Polish citizen of Ukrainian origin was charged with leading an organized criminal group, i.e. Article 258 § 3 of the Penal Code, and making threats of beating and deprivation of liberty in order to influence one of the defendants, Article 245 of the Penal Code), as well as enabling foreigners to stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland in violation of the regulations by issuing documents certifying untruthfulness while simultaneously deriving material benefits from this procedure, i.e. Article 264a § 1 of the Penal Code in conjunction with Article 272 of the Penal Code in conjunction with Article 11 § 2 of the Penal Code in conjunction with Article 12 § 1 of the Penal Code in conjunction with Article 65 § 1 of the Penal Code.
Operating in the years 2017-2019, the group members enabled a significant number of foreigners to stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland in violation of the regulations, mainly citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, but also countries such as Ghana, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Morocco.
In the case, preventive measures were applied, including temporary arrest (against 7 people) and property security was imposed in the amount of over PLN 120,000.
Of the 11 suspects, 8 confessed to committing the acts they were charged with and voluntarily submitted to punishment, including a Polish citizen of Ukrainian origin who led the group.
