Church representative nabbed for corruption

Marek P, a Polish Catholic Church plenipotentiary, has been arrested by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) on suspicion of giving a bribe to a member of the Assets Commission, which is charged with returning property seized from the church during the communist period.

The accused was arrested for suspicions concerning recovered assets in the Kraków area.

Marek P, who was formally an ex-state security officer, will be detained for three months in Gliwice while an investigation takes place.

“If it is confirmed that land were taken from the city with the help of a crime, then we should either get the land back or receive compensation,” Jacek Majchrowski, Mayor of Kraków, told Gazeta Wyborcza.

“We are interested in explaining all the irregularities connected with compensation for assets stolen during communism and recovered by legal persons representing the church,” said Robert Necek, spokesperson for the diocese.

Marek P had earlier helped recover assets worth hundreds of millions of zloty for the church, according to Wyborcza. In cases where the physical assets couldn't be returned, he arranged for compensation from the government or for alternative assets.

He is also suspected of having bribed more officials of the commission to issue decisions favorable to the church, as well as using a corrupt property appraiser to price assets below market value. As an intermediary for the church, Marek P would allegedly buy the assets and then sell them on at a higher price on behalf of the church, taking a cut for himself.

Since the Assets Commission was set-up in 1991, it has returned assets worth over zł.24 billion to the Polish Catholic Church.

Marek P, a Polish Catholic Church plenipotentiary....is also suspected of having bribed more officials of the commission to issue decisions favorable to the church, as well as using a corrupt property appraiser to price assets below market value. As an intermediary for the church, Marek P would allegedly buy the assets and then sell them on at a higher price on behalf of the church, taking a cut for himself.

Just so you know, AM, the "Polish Catholic Church" is not the Roman Catholic Church of Poland.

It is a breakaway group that was funded by the Communist as a competing entity to the Roman Catholic Church.

Less than one-half of one percent of Poles belong to this group.

Marek P had earlier helped recover assets worth hundreds of millions of zloty for the church, according to Wyborcza. In cases where the physical assets couldn't be returned, he arranged for compensation from the government or for alternative assets.

I'll bet he was getting a commission and bribed the govt employee to keep the commissions coming. I wonder if he got turned in by a competing church?

I'll bet he was getting a commission and bribed the govt employee to keep the commissions coming. I wonder if he got turned in by a competing church?

If you read the article, you will see that he had a property appraiser who appraised the the properties at below market value.

He would go to the government officials, who would give the properties to him as an intermediary for the church. He then sold them for a higher price on the open market, while giving the church only the lower, falsely appraised price. Presumably the bribes to the government officials were paid out of the profits he made.

Given this situation, it seems more likely that an official of the church that was being ripped off by Marek P reported him.

I'm sure they found out that a specific property which Marek told them had fetched X price was actually bought for Y.

I'm not sure how a "competing church" would enter into this.

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