EPPO and Polish anticorruption bureau charge six over 900,000-euro flood aid fraud

EPPO and CBA operation

Officers from the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) conducted operations across Lower Silesia on 26 August 2026, detaining six individuals under the direction of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). The suspects include representatives of three private commercial firms and a former senior official from the Karkonosze Regional Development Agency (KARR). During the coordinated operation, which received operational support from the Polish Border Guard, agents searched eight locations across the region. The searches encompassed private residences of the suspects and the premises of an independent expert appraiser who had certified the financial losses claimed by the applicants, resulting in the seizure of business documentation and digital storage media.

Scope of the fraudulent claims

According to investigative findings, representatives of the three enterprises submitted formal assistance claims between December 2024 and November 2025 to recover financial losses supposedly suffered during the September 2024 floods in southwestern Poland. Analysis by the EPPO established that floodwaters never reached the physical properties or operational sites of these companies. Despite the fictitious basis of the applications, KARR approved and disbursed at least 900,000 euros (approximately 4.5 million PLN) in preferential loans financed by combined Polish state and European Union budgets.

Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesperson for the minister-coordinator of special services, addressed the arrests during a media briefing in Warsaw.

Thieves and fraudsters have no place here, and therefore, sooner or later, everyone will be detained.

Dismissals and airport detention

The recipients of the disputed funds included entities tied to regional figures in Lower Silesia. Reporting by Wirtualna Polska identified the detained former agency official as former KARR vice president Anna Konieczyńska, alongside her husband, local television station TV DAMI owner Krzysztof Błażejczyk, and businessman Jacek K., the majority shareholder in Kadalore, a firm that obtained 3.2 million PLN in aid. One suspect was detained on 26 August 2026 at Wrocław Airport after arriving on a commercial flight from Varna, Bulgaria, where Border Guard and CBA personnel boarded the aircraft on the tarmac. Administrative fallout had already begun earlier in the month, as the KARR supervisory board removed Konieczyńska on 11 August 2026, followed on 14 August 2026 by the Lower Silesian regional board dismissing agency president Hubert Papaj and dissolving the entire supervisory board.

Audit findings and court proceedings

The arrests originated from an administrative audit initiated by the CBA on 29 April 2026 into flood relief distribution mechanisms. Investigators analyzed 900 individual relief applications, cross-referencing satellite data, emergency service logs, and terrain flood maps before selecting over 50 submissions representing nearly 50 million PLN for in-depth verification. CBA officers had entered several regional institutions the previous week to secure files after initial findings were transferred to European prosecutors.

Following interrogations at the EPPO office in Katowice on 27 August 2026, investigators charged all six detainees with subsidy fraud and submitting false documentation to obtain public loans. European prosecutors filed formal arrest motions with the Katowice-East District Court against the three corporate representatives. The remaining three suspects were released subject to regular police reporting conditions and financial bail guarantees while multi-threaded investigative proceedings continue.