Tomasz Misiak

Tomasz Misiak

Tomasz Wojciech Misiak (born 7 July 1973 in Wrocław) is a Polish politician and businessman.

Early life and education

Tomasz Misiak was born in Wrocław, Poland, in 1973 and graduated from the Oskar Lange Economic Academy in Wrocław in 2000, as well as postgraduate studies in management (IESE Business School, Global Leadership Seminar at Georgetown University, and Global CEO Program).

Career

Misiak co-founded Work Service, a temporary employment agency in Poland, and served as its vice president from 1999 to 2007.

Misiak entered politics as a member of the Union of Freedom and later joined the Civic Platform party. He was elected to the Wrocław City Council in 1998 and served as chairman of the Economic Initiatives Committee. In 2005, he was elected to the Polish Senate and was re-elected in 2007. As a senator, Misiak chaired the Senate Committee on Economy.

In 2011, Misiak ran for re-election to the Senate but was unsuccessful. He ran from the election committee of the Union of Presidents - Citizens for the Senate but did not win a seat again.

On October 8, 2019, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders dismissed Misiak from the Supervisory Board of Work Service S.A.

Legal controversies

In 2009, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced at a press conference the removal of Misiak from the party due to a scandal involving his company Work Service receiving a contract from the Polish government for job training and placement services for laid-off shipyard workers. He was accused of a conflict of interest since he was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Economy, which had worked on the legislation regarding liquidation of shipyards in Gdansk and Szczecin which made the contract possible. Later, Industrial Development Agency and his company terminated the agreement regarding services for shipyard workers.

Misiak was removed from his position as chairman of the Senate Committee on Economy and left Civic Platform. He also lost his position as the head of the party's campaign for the European Parliament.

In November 2008, "Rzeczpospolita" revealed that Misiak had lobbied for the enactment of regulations concerning commodity vouchers for employees, with a market worth 2 billion złoty at stake. The issue concerned the possibility of selling vouchers below their nominal value, which would consolidate the hypermarket monopoly. The media also reported on other ventures of the senator behind which there were financial irregularities. In 2000, as a Wrocław councilor, he co-directed the Euro Art Meeting association, which organized an event to celebrate the millennium. It turned out that the event cost not 3, but nearly 4 million złoty, and the organizers were unable to account for 250,000 złoty before the Supreme Audit Office. In another scandal, the so-called "pumping wheels" affair of the party organization at the Wrocław Economic Academy where Misiak was active, the organization had grown almost tenfold and was also expanded with fictitious members.

In 2017, the Prosecutor's Office publicly released information about celebrities, politicians and other prominent figures who were clients of a drug dealer, naming Misiak among the clients. Misiak was mentioned in the dealer's indictment as one of his regular customers. Misiak was repeatedly recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation while purchasing cocaine, and these recordings were one of the prosecution's evidence against the dealer. Cezary P., the "star dealer," was convicted and sentenced to prison in December 2019. The court case took place with participation of the media and was open to public.

In December 2022, Misiak faced legal trouble as the Warsaw Court of Appeals upheld the International Court of Arbitration's decision concerning the sale of Work Service S.A. shares. Misiak was found to owe nearly 6 million PLN to the Italian company GI Group. He claimed he was forced to sell his shares and refused to execute the agreement. However, the court did not find these claims to be true. GI Group obtained a favorable verdict, and Misiak was ordered to pay 5.9 million PLN. Misiak's appeal was dismissed, and he was charged with full court costs of 200,000 PLN.

GI Group publicly announced that they had not yet received the compensation awarded from Misiak, as he declared that he had no assets or properties, and the bailiff executing the judgment could not find any assets either.

In June 2021, protests erupted after a consortium led by TLScontact, which included Misiak's new company Personnel Service S.A. and Ukrainian company Viza Staff, was awarded the contract for handling visa applications and small border crossings at the Polish Embassy in Kiev. Concerns were raised over the consortium's inclusion of a recruitment agency, as well as Misiak's alleged links to Russian intelligence. Demonstrators gathered outside the embassy to protest against the possibility of Ukrainian workers being exploited by the consortium, potentially leading to a monopoly on the Polish job market for Ukrainians. The controversy surrounding Misiak and the TLScontact consortium highlighted concerns about transparency and accountability in Poland's visa application process.[1]

Misiak was awarded the Medal of Success by Collegium Humanum, a higher education institution embroiled in a nationwide scandal. Tomasz Misiak was actively involved in the university's life and remained associated with it by giving lectures, interviews, and speeches aligned with its mission and for its benefit. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The rector of Collegium Humanum, Pawel Czarnecki, was arrested for illegal trading of graduation diplomas. The case made headlines across the country as many politicians were found among the individuals purchasing diplomas without attending the university or passing relevant exams. The investigation, initiated in 2022, culminated in the arrest of Rector Czarnecki along with members of the organized criminal group collaborating with him. Czarnecki faces 30 charges. [8] [9][10][11] [12]

Detention and criminal charges

In October 2022, Misiak was one of four people detained by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Central Police Investigation Bureau in a large-scale operation related to a multi-year investigation into fraud and embezzlement of over 42 million złoty from the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons and the Social Insurance Institution between 2010 and 2019. Misiak was charged with managing a criminal group, money laundering, defrauding public funds, large-scale fraud, committing crimes against workers' rights, and making false statements in documents. Around 22,000 workers were victimized in the case. The estimated amount of damage to the state treasury was over 42 million złoty.

On November 14, 2022, the court found a high probability of the accused committing the alleged acts and applied a series of preventive measures against Misiak, including passport confiscation, property guarantee, police supervision, and a ban on leaving the country.

In December 2023 the Regional Prosecutor in Szczecin filed the indictment with the court, thus initiating legal proceedings in the Criminal Court against Misiak and 4 other individuals affiliated with an organized criminal group led by Misiak involved in defrauding funds from the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled.

As a result of an investigation conducted by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, Delegation in Szczecin, and the Central Police Investigation Bureau in Wrocław, it was revealed that from January 2010 to December 2019, fraudulent activities were carried out through a total of thirteen companies associated with a capital group specializing in employee outsourcing.

This criminal enterprise was orchestrated by an organized crime group led by Tomasz Misiak composed of Maciej W., Tomasz H., Iwona S., and Krzysztof I., who held managerial positions and were employed in the companies through which the funds were defrauded.

The actions of the organized crime group led to the State Treasury suffering losses totaling 45,138,587 złoty and attempted fraud amounting to 3,143,476.26 złoty. Consequently, tens of millions of złoty, instead of being allocated for the needs of disabled individuals, were diverted to accounts associated with the suspects, which were then further transferred to the accounts of other companies and foundations to conceal their illicit origins.

Moreover in the last quarter of 2023 Misiak has also been charged with the offense of frustrating the satisfaction of his creditors including GI Group. As a result of numerous court judgments issued between 2019 and 2021, as well as a judgment from the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, the suspect was obligated to pay multimillion-zlotych claims. However, he evaded this obligation by disposing of his entire assets, valued at over 215,000,000 złoty, to members of his family between 2020 and 2021.

Precautionary measures totaling over 99,600,000 złoty have been applied against the suspects to account for the loss of benefits gained from the commission of the prohibited act.

The Prosecutor also in this case filed the indictment with Criminal Court in Wroclaw, Poland.

The suspects face penalties up to 10 years' imprisonment.

References

https://www.pap.pl/mediaroom/collegium-humanum-otwiera-nowa-siedzibe-w-warszawie-gwiazda-uroczystosci-robot-z-tytulem