The secret Gulf meeting

The head of the Zondacrypto crypto exchange, Przemysław Kral, met with Polish prosecutor Marek Wełna at a hotel in an unnamed Persian Gulf state, sources told Rzeczpospolita on Sunday. Wełna heads the Silesian branch of the National Prosecutor's Office's Department for Organised Crime and Corruption, the unit investigating the disappearance of Sylwester Suszek, the creator of the BitBay exchange that later became Zondacrypto. The meeting, described as shrouded in secrecy, is reported to have launched negotiations in which Kral would receive crown-witness status in return for full cooperation and disclosure of the truth about the enterprise.

“From prosecutor Marek Wełna I received the reply that he does not provide information in this matter.”

Prosecutor Przemysław Nowak, spokesman for the National Prosecutor's Office, gave that response when asked by Rzeczpospolita about the foreign delegation and the meeting with Kral. The office did not deny the reports.

Kral's disappearance and the scale of losses

Kral, a former attorney from Katowice, vanished in mid-April 2026, shortly after clients of Zondacrypto found they could no longer withdraw their money. The prosecutor's office launched an investigation on 17 April into large-scale fraud and money laundering, initially estimating the damage at no less than 350 million zloty. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the problem affects around 30,000 people who suffered losses, and both the number of victims and the total loss figure continue to grow. Kral is not a wanted person, nor even a suspect; no charges have been filed against him. Media reports indicate he travelled first to Monaco and then to Israel. He holds Israeli citizenship, which makes extradition to Poland unlikely even if an arrest warrant were issued.

The shadow of Sylwester Suszek

The platform, originally called BitBay, has a history of dark episodes. Its founder, Sylwester Suszek, vanished without trace on 10 March 2022. He was last seen at a fuel depot in Czeladź owned by Marian W., whom press reports identify as the real boss of the exchange, with official CEOs serving merely as figureheads. After Suszek disappeared, Kral took over and the company moved its registered office to Estonia in 2021. Kral had represented Suszek as his attorney since 2019. Prosecutors reportedly hope that Kral's cooperation could shed light on Suszek's fate, which remains unknown more than four years later.

Political connections and Russian organised crime

After the insolvency scandal erupted, Prime Minister Tusk disclosed that according to findings by the Internal Security Agency (ABW), the Tambov Russian mafia was involved in the enterprise, having helped the founder around 2018 when he faced financial trouble. Tusk later revealed that Zondacrypto had made a payment of 450,000 zloty to the Sovereign Poland Institute Foundation, linked to Zbigniew Ziobro. The company also transferred 70,000 euros to the Good Government Foundation of Confederation MP Przemysław Wipler. Zondacrypto was the main sponsor of the CPAC Poland conference in May 2025, a right-wing event attended by President Andrzej Duda and then-presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki. The exchange also sponsored the Polish Olympic Committee; three Polish medallists from the Milan Winter Games have still not received their promised awards worth 950,000 zloty.

Wełna's changes to the investigation

After taking over as head of the Silesian organised-crime unit, prosecutor Wełna decided to revoke the delegation of prosecutor Marcin Rodzaj, who had led the investigation into Suszek's disappearance for four years. Employees of BitBay and Zondacrypto companies had for years organised training sessions on cryptocurrencies for state officials, including police officers, prosecutors, and tax administration staff, even as law enforcement agencies were already scrutinising the exchange's activities. Kral's testimony could illuminate the company's operations from its inception.