Polish prosecutors have indicted the mayor of Poland’s third biggest city, also a former presidential aide and two ex-MEPs for their alleged participation in a fraud and corruption scandal involving a private university.
The case involves Collegium Humanum, a university alleged to have corruptly issued diplomas without requiring recipients actually to study for them.
Since legislative changes made in 2017, holding an MBA has become a means to meet the requirements necessary to sit on the boards of State-owned companies.
Collegium Humanum, which was founded in 2018, has been accused of exploiting this by effectively becoming a ‘degree factory’ to provide MBAs for officials wanting to hold such positions.
Four politicians are alleged to have used the college to obtain MBAs, a qualification that enabled them to obtain lucrative positions on the boards of State-owned companies.
Media articles in Poland in 2020 first raised suspicions of wrongdoing in 2020 and on November 17, after years of investigation, Polish prosecutors filed indictments against 29 individuals.
Among those facing charges there are politicians and university rectors and academics who are accused of 67 offences, mainly relating to alleged corruption in the issuing of false diplomas.
“Investigations confirmed widespread malpractice, encompassing not only irregularities in the issuance of postgraduate MBA diplomas, but also bachelor’s and master’s degree diplomas,” wrote the prosecutors in a statement.
“A criminal mechanism was revealed, indicating that documenting fictitious studies and issuing unreliable certificates was possible thanks to the complicity of the Collegium Humanum rector, university staff and other individuals, including those holding public positions in state and local government bodies.”
Among those indicted is Jacek Sutryk, the Mayor of Wrocław, who is allied with the centre-left government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Sutryk is facing four charges relating to fraud and corruption that, if found guilty, could see him jailed for eight years.
Prosecutors allege that Sutryk paid €2,400 in tuition fees to receive an MBA but did not actually undertake any of the required studies. In return, he allegedly arranged for the rector of the college to become an adviser to the municipal technology park. For that, the academic was paid almost €20,000 without any evidence of any work being carried out.
Another prominent figure facing a trial is Ryszard Czarnecki, former MEP from the opposition Conservatives (PiS), who together with his wife has been accused of two offences relating to peddling influence, corrupt payments and money laundering
Another former PiS MEP, Karol Karski, is accused of accepting financial benefits from the rector of the college in return for helping obtain a positive opinion from the foreign ministry for Collegium Humanum’s overseas expansion.
Błażej Spychalski, a PiS politician who served as spokesman for former president Andrzej Duda, is also accused of corruptly obtaining MBAs for himself and his wife, who allegedly used her diploma to earn €15,000 serving on the boards of a hospital and a military technology office.
Sutryk has said he will fight his case in court, claiming he is innocent and Karski, Czarnecki and Spychalski have previously denied wrongdoing.
There have been Polish press allegations that the former speaker of parliament and leader of the centrist Poland 2050 party, one of Tusk’s coalition allies, was enrolled at Collegium Humanum but never attended any of the studies.
Hołownia is not facing any charges and has not been awarded an MBA by the college. He denies having been enrolled.
It was revealed, though, that the security services are checking the authenticity of his signature on a Collegium Humanum enrolment form.
