“We would like to inform you that on September 6, 2024, the District Court in Warsaw, pursuant to Article 607a of the Code of Criminal Procedure, issued a European Arrest Warrant against Paweł Szopa,” we read in a statement on the court’s website.
Art. 607a of the Code of Criminal Procedure refers specifically to the issuance of a European Arrest Warrant. “In the event of a suspicion that a person prosecuted for an offence subject to the jurisdiction of Polish criminal courts may be staying in the territory of a European Union Member State, the competent regional court, at the request of the prosecutor, and in judicial and enforcement proceedings – ex officio or at the request of the competent district court, may issue a European Arrest Warrant.”
A few days ago, an arrest warrant was issued for Paweł Szopa. Earlier, the District Court in Katowice imposed a three-month temporary arrest on Paweł Szopa. “The District Court in Katowice accepted the prosecutor’s appeal today and imposed a preventive measure against Paweł Sz. in the form of temporary arrest for a period of 90 days (in accordance with the prosecutor’s original request),” the National Prosecutor’s Office announced on Monday.
Earlier, the prosecutor’s office received a request to prosecute Paweł Szopa under an Interpol red notice at the Police Headquarters.
ENA as a result of the RARS scandal
The arrest warrant and temporary arrest of Paweł Szopa are related to the scandal at the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves. Both he and Michał K., the former head of RARS, who was arrested on Thursday, are accused by the prosecutor’s office of, among other things, participation in an organized criminal group and exceeding their authority and failing to fulfill their duties in order to gain financial benefits.
Paweł Szopa’s attorney, attorney Bartosz Lewandowski, disagrees with the allegations. He called his case a “media-political machine that makes a Polish entrepreneur out to be dishonest.”
Let us recall that the investigation into irregularities in RARS was initiated by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw at the beginning of December last year. In April, it was taken over by the Silesian Branch of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice.
The proceedings concern the purchase of goods for RARS in the period from 23 February 2021 to 27 November 2023.
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