Economic Fallout of Police Raids in Wroclaw

BRUSSELS, November 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

7 000 Polish families face a bleak Christmas as a direct result of police raids against companies owned by Polish entrepreneur Zdiszlaw Kmetko in 7 cities in Poland.

The raids involved 100 SWAT officers, 50 policemen, 60 plain clothes detectives and about 70 vehicles. 

The stark reality facing 7 000 workers and their families is that they cannot be paid because the District Prosecutor in Wroclaw has frozen the company's bank account, and they now risk losing their jobs unless the company is permitted to restart operations within days.

The companies raided by the Polish authorities operate an employment agency and outsourcing business that serves 147 small businesses in Poland.

The police raids were particularly brutal. A SWAT team smashed through the bedroom window of an 84 year old grandmother in her private apartment to carry out a routine enquiry. Plain clothes police officers in unmarked cars swooped on a 64 year old grandmother in her private home and handcuffed her. A pregnant mother was terrified by the ordeal.

"Who ordered this," she asked,"I have nothing to do with this company and did not understand what the police wanted. Why did they smash into my private home"

Servers from the companies' offices were removed, computers, mobile 'phones, televisions. files records; everything was seized by the police officers and taken away for investigation. They even took away the computer games of teenage children from private homes.

Interestingly, in Germany a similar investigation of the companies by the Berlin State Prosecutor at the request of the Polish authorities lasted two and a half years, saw the companies co-operating in full with the Prosecutor's office, and supplying all of the evidence requested for the investigators to perform their work in a civilised manner without any raids or seizures. The German investigation gave the companies a clean bill of health last month and exonerated them from any charges.

By comparison, the Polish authorities have deliberately forced closure of the same companies in the process of looking for new evidence. They have ripped the heart out of the businesses and terrorised the workers who now fear for their future. 10 workers face criminal charges and 6 are in prison pending investigation of the charges against them.

"The important thing now is to consider the future of the employees and our clients," a spokesman for K.u.K. International said. "It is urgent to pay our workers their salaries. We have the funds to do so, and wish to pay these obligations as quickly as possible. We urge the authorities to unblock the bank account so that we can pay them, and set up a structure that will allow interim administration of the companies so that we can keep the business going and respect our responsibilities and commitments to our employees and our clients."

"We wish to co-operate in full with the Polish authorities, as we have already done in Germany, and willingly supply all of the information and documentation required by the investigators to assist their work. It makes no economic sense to deprive 7 000 workers of their employment and their wages. We are shocked and saddened by the tactics that have been used to seize data and forcibly shut down our company operations," he went on to say.

Business owner Zdzislaw Kmetko has written to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to request his intervention in the case. "I operate an ordinary outsourcing business and employment agency," he said, "It is nonsense to describe it as an organised criminal operation, and everybody in my companies knows this to be true."

"I accept my responsibilities to pay all of the taxes and social security payments due to the Polish State for my business operations. I appeal for a return of common sense and order in the interests of my employees and business clients, that we  be allowed to restart our operations in a proper and civilised way, and that my employees who are currently in detention should be released pending conclusion of the investigations by the authorities. We owe these actions  in the best interests of the workers and the Polish economy."

For more information visit:-   http://www.kmetkostory.info  

SOURCE K.u.K. International Limited