Eleven individuals are accused of operating an organized criminal group, submitting visa applications to labor and other agencies to “legalize” the employment of the foreign workers, with the scheme seeing at least 7,000 foreigners enter Poland in an effort to enter Europe. Most visa recipients bypassed any real job and simply headed on to Germany.
In total, Polish offices received over 12,000 applications and declarations containing false information, based on which Polish consulates issued over 7,000 visas entitling them to cross into Poland and gain access to the rest of the EU. Many of those who obtained this “golden ticket” ultimately sought asylum in Germany.
The illegal activity involved the suspects establishing various limited liability companies via the S24 online portal using trusted ePuap profiles, where fictitious addresses of the entities’ registered offices were indicated, writes TVP Info.
Meanwhile, the real companies, whose names were being used, had no knowledge of what was going on.
After obtaining the National Court Register (KRS) and Tax Identification Numbers (NIP), the perpetrators submitted applications for employment permits to the District Employment Offices in Bydgoszcz, Nakło nad Notecią, Świecie, and Włocławek, as well as the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Office in Bydgoszcz and its branch in Włocławek.
They provided details of businesses throughout the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (hotels, farms, restaurants) allegedly interested in hiring a specific foreigner.
The addresses of these entities, the type of work agreed upon, and the hourly rate were provided. However, the individuals interviewed during the investigation, who actually represented these entities, denied ever consenting to the disclosure of company data or establishing contact with the foreign nationals identified.
“Based on documents obtained from Polish offices in this way, citizens of various countries, including: Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, India, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Congo, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, illegally obtained visas and entered the territory of the Republic of Poland, and thus the territory of the European Union,” says Agnieszka Adamska-Okońska, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Bydgoszcz.
The suspects were detained during the investigation, and some of them – at the prosecutor’s request – were temporarily remanded in custody by the court. They will be charged with participating in an organized criminal group and organizing illegal border crossings.
These crimes are punishable by up to eight years in prison. The prosecutor imposed a security deposit on the suspects’ assets, valued at over PLN 100,000 and €30,000.
According to Bild, initial stats from the Federal Police recorded 5,569 suspects from January to October of this year alone who are alleged to have come to Germany with fraudulently obtained visas.
