Zondacrypto Affair: Searches at Ziobro and Wipler Foundations, Ziobro's 2018 Letter to Morawiecki

In brief

• Prosecutors searched foundations linked to Zbigniew Ziobro and Przemysław Wipler over money received from Zondacrypto.
• TVN24 reported that Ziobro's foundation received 450,000 zloty from the exchange's chief executive.
• Gazeta Wyborcza reported on a 2018 letter from Ziobro to Morawiecki about regulating crypto, contradicting his claim of ignorance.
• Victims' lawyer proposes a single court procedure to divide frozen assets proportionally.

Searches at two foundations

Officers of the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime searched the offices of Instytut Polski Suwerennej, the foundation linked to Zbigniew Ziobro, and a foundation linked to Konfederacja MP Przemysław Wipler on Friday, 30 October (Przeszukania w fundacjach Ziobry i Wiplera. „Tuskowi zależało na spektaklu” – RMF24) (Afera Zondacrypto. Przeszukania w siedzibach fundacji Ziobry i Wiplera – Dziennik.pl). Prosecutor's office spokesperson Anna Adamiak confirmed the searches were ordered by Team No. 4 of the National Prosecutor's Office (Śledczy weszli do fundacji Ziobry i Wiplera. Chodzi o sprawę Zondacrypto – Onet) (Przeszukania u Ziobry i Wiplera. Prokuratura potwierdza akcję – Wirtualna Polska).

The address registered for Ziobro's foundation is used only for correspondence, so a board member appeared at the Łódź bureau as a witness and handed over documents. Wipler was also questioned as a witness. He called the operation a media show and denies that his foundation's funding was linked to lobbying for Zondacrypto (Przeszukania w siedzibach fundacji Ziobry i Wiplera – RMF24).

The 450,000 zloty donation

TVN24 reported that Ziobro's foundation received 450,000 zloty from the Zondacrypto chief executive (Afera Zondacrypto. Zbigniew Ziobro i pismo do Mateusza Morawieckiego – Onet). A company connected to Zondacrypto also made a transaction to Wipler's foundation.

The 2018 letter to Morawiecki

Gazeta Wyborcza reported that in 2018, as justice minister, Ziobro wrote to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki about regulating the crypto market. He did so after warnings about the sector from the financial supervisor KNF and the central bank NBP. Ziobro backed an initiative from the consumer protection office UOKiK and an interministerial team, which met five times without producing effective rules. The letter contradicts Ziobro's claim that he knew about crypto only as much as he knew about hieroglyphs (Waldemar Żurek komentuje doniesienia na temat Zbigniewa Ziobry. "Linia obrony właśnie się rozsypała" – Onet). Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek asked whether this was memory loss or a deliberately calculated lie.

Investigation and victims

The Katowice regional prosecutor opened the Zondacrypto case on 17 April on suspicion of large-scale fraud and money laundering. Several thousand notices of crime have been filed. In August the case was merged with an investigation into the disappearance of Sylwester Suszek. A special Prokuratura Krajowa team now handles it.

Funds are frozen, but victims face long waits. Lawyer Robert Nogacki, who represents several hundred clients, proposes a single court procedure to divide the assets among verified victims in proportion to their losses, with any surplus going to the state budget (Pieniądze zamrożone, ofiary czekają. Klienci Zondy chcą zmiany prawa – RMF24). The proposal is tied to the EU directive on asset recovery and confiscation. Under current rules, victims generally must wait for a final verdict or separate civil suits. In the Amber Gold and WIG cases, verdicts took about 10 and 20 years.

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