Entrepreneur in appeal to EU in bitter "selective justice" dispute with Poland

by Martin Banks

Businessman Marek Kmetko is claiming millions of euros in compensation against the Polish government in a hearing due to start in the Warsaw district court on 8 October.

The list of respondents cited in the case includes Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as well as the Polish ministries of justice, finance and labour and the social insurance authority in Wroclaw.

Mr Kmetko has spent a total of ten years in jail and is now seeking to prove that both the fraud conviction and actions of the Polish authorities in the early 1990s were "unlawful."

He says that at the height of his success the Polish state attempted to wrongfully seize his business assets, including over 300 trucks, and his bank accounts were illegally blocked.

The Polish state allegedly sought possession of his haulage fleet for civil defence purposes because at the time it feared a possible conflict with neighbouring Russia.

Mr Kmetko,however, claims that the Polish government’s actions "led to the ruin" of his haulage business, which was once the country's biggest with a 7,000-strong workforce. The legal action also cites his "unfair" imprisonment on "spurious" grounds and the violent deaths of commercial partners.

Kmetko claims that over 20 years later civil servants in Poland are still trying to use "every possible means" to ruin him again and to "paralyze" the Polish operations of a new business he recently launched in Berlin.

He plans to send a petition to the European Parliament in Brussels under the petitions procedure and to the Strasbourg-based European Ombudsman. He may also appeal to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in a bid to raise public and political awareness of his case.

He cites the example of former Ukraine PM Yulia Tymoshenko whose indefinite pre-trial detention in 2011 was recently called ‘arbitrary and unlawful’ by the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr Kmetko say the same kind of "selective justice" has been applied against him by the Polish state.

He said, "In Ukraine, the authorities, including the government, have used their powers to influence the courts to take action against a political target.Pretty much the same thing is happening with me and my business," he said.

"I firmly believe this is a case for the EU because I am an EU citizen and what has happened against me is a violation of EU law. That is why I am making a direct appeal to the EU to stop selective justice practices being applied against what is a legitimate business.

He added, "It is disgraceful that the Polish state has, for example, launched a discriminatory attack on me by bombarding me with allegations of tax irregularities from over 1,000 tax offices in Poland.

"We are talking here about a cross-border enterprise, one that is headquarted in Germany with operations in Poland."
The Berlin-based Mr Kmetko says that in April he was forced to flee his home in Germany after receiving "very credible" threats that his life was in danger.

He moved to Zurich, leaving his family in Berlin. He says he had to leave his native Poland in March 2011 for similar reasons.

He added, "The Polish state has effectively decided to destroy by new business and for no other reason than that I refused to comply with the demand to hand over my business to the authorities in the early 1990s.

"This has been going on for 20 years. Presidents, prime ministers and parliaments have come and gone but still the Polish state seems intent on persecuting me. I need now to protect my current business - and my family - and that is why I have started this legal action. If nothing else, I want to show how the current Polish government operates."

Mr Kmetko conceded, "I am fully aware there is little chance of winning this case in a Polish court but in no way will I be stopped. I will go through all the legal levels to prove my justice."

"Somebody must be punished for all that happened to me and also the business partners who trusted me. I am suing the Polish state in the name of all people in Poland where it should be possible to work and earn money honestly and frankly," he said.

Mr Kmetko, aged 61, who has won more than 50 legal procedures against the Polish authorities since 1993 and was once the biggest truck carrier in Poland, says he is now the victim of another "hostile" campaign, inspired by the Polish state.

He said, "This is, sadly, a typical East European story of a talented and dynamical entrepreneur, trapped by the hostile and populist mentality of authorities who essentially wanted to get their hands on a profitable business. It is tantamount to corporate theft."

His Berlin- based lawyer, Mr Andreas Zumschlinge, said, "We think the European Parliament should take up this case.

"In doing so, the Parliament might help make sure that the rights of a German company and those of people living in Germany are respected by law and that people or institutions in Poland may not influence this."