Prosecutors Refuse to Drop Michał Wiśniewski Case: Cassation Appeal Filed Against Ich Troje Leader’s Acquittal

Prosecutors have filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court against the appellate court acquittal of Ich Troje leader Michał Wiśniewski regarding a controversial 2.8 million PLN loan from SKOK Wołomin.

The 2006 Loan and Club Acquisition

The case is connected to a 2.8 million PLN loan that Michał Wiśniewski took out in 2006 at SKOK Wołomin. The Ich Troje vocalist used part of these funds to finance the purchase of shares in a company that rented the Extravaganza club in Warsaw.

The loan was secured by a promissory note and guarantees. Wiśniewski also provided SKOK with a number of other documents, including tax declarations and bank certificates confirming no arrears on other repaid credits. The application was filled out at a meeting on the vocalist’s behalf by SKOK vice-president Joanna P.

Repayments and Advertising Agreements

Aside from payments made by Wiśniewski’s then-wife, between April 2010 and September 2014 Wiśniewski repaid a total of approximately 1.2 million PLN. In the meantime, entrepreneur Piotr S., his associate Stanisław B., and Piotr S.’s company also repaid installments on his behalf, totaling 1.8 million PLN.

Michał Wiśniewski later explained in court that these payments were linked to his appearances in SKOK advertisements. Indeed, the Ich Troje vocalist promoted the institution in television and radio spots, as well as in the press and on billboards. He explained that his participation in these commercials was an agreed-upon method with SKOK for repaying the debt.

Counting all payments, a total of approximately 3.3 million PLN was transferred to SKOK for loan repayment between 2008 and 2014. Let us recall: the loan amounted to 2.8 million PLN, but this was also accompanied by interest, including penalty interest resulting from delays.

First Instance Court Verdict

In September 2001, the Warsaw-Praga District Prosecutor’s Office charged Michał Wiśniewski with fraud. According to the prosecution, the fraud consisted of intentionally submitting an unreliable statement regarding his earnings to SKOK in order to achieve a “financial advantage.” In short, the prosecution assumed that in 2006 Wiśniewski could not afford such a loan at all, given the documents he submitted.

The artist insisted on his innocence and clean intentions from the beginning. “I had no intention of extorting this amount from SKOK; time showed that I lost the club and was left with the loan, so I do not quite see the purpose for which I would have committed fraud,” Michał Wiśniewski explained at the prosecutor’s office.

In October 2023, the Warsaw-Praga Regional Court sentenced Wiśniewski in a non-final judgment to 1.5 years in prison, along with an 80,000 PLN fine and 16,500 PLN in court costs.

“The accused did not achieve incomes in 2005 and 2006 that would allow him to pay the monthly loan installment of 68,900 PLN, also taking into account the mortgage loans he was paying and alimony,” the court stated in its justification at the time. According to the court, “the accused Michał Chrystian Wiśniewski was fully aware that his income would not allow him to repay the monthly installment of this loan.”

Appellate Court Acquittal and Artist’s Statements

Michał Wiśniewski’s defenders filed an appeal. As reported by Gazeta.pl, in May of this year, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw acquitted the artist.

“The judgment of the first instance court is erroneous,” said Judge Małgorzata Janicz in her oral justification. She noted that there is no evidence that Michał Wiśniewski committed fraud, pointing out, among other things, that the artist took actions aimed at repaying the loan taken out years earlier at SKOK.

“In retrospect, I can say one should not have gotten into this,” the artist admitted during the hearing regarding the takeover of the Extravaganza club.

“Today I check every column five hundred times, back then I didn’t do that,” he added, referring to the loan application at SKOK. “I submitted all securities, everything I had (…). There is not an ounce of evidence that I fabricated any of these documents that I submitted,” he emphasized. “I was convinced that this loan would finance itself through the club’s activity, and we would invest in its development,” he assured.

“A crime should be punished; my only fault was the recklessness of availing myself of the purchase of this club. SKOK was the same bank to me as any other where I took out a loan for a house a year earlier,” said Michał Wiśniewski.

Prosecution Files Cassation Appeal

As established by Gazeta.pl, the prosecution has decided to fight on. Last Thursday, the Warsaw-Praga District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw filed a cassation appeal through the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. Investigators are demanding the annulment of the challenged judgment and the referral of the case for re-examination by the Court of Appeal.

In the cassation, the prosecution accused the second-instance court of, among other things, “arbitrary and incomplete evaluation of the evidence material” and “making key findings based on unjustified presumptions not reflected in the evidence.”

“In the Prosecutor’s Office’s assessment, the scale and nature of the described procedural deficiencies deprive the challenged judgment of the attribute of justice, which justifies the demand for its annulment and referral of the case for re-examination,” prosecutor Marzena Kiełek-Łopińska, spokesperson for the Warsaw-Praga District Prosecutor’s Office, informed us.

The Supreme Court may dismiss the prosecution’s cassation appeal or annul the ruling of the Court of Appeal and refer the case for re-examination. The hearing date is not yet known.