Imagine this situation: a Member of the European Parliament, a well-known politician, receives compensation for his trips, and the amount is not small – over 200,000 euros! It may seem like nothing unusual, but here’s the catch – he claims some of his trips were made by car that was officially scrapped a year before. What kind of scheme is this?
This concerns Ryszard Czarnecki, a former Member of the European Parliament from the Polish party “Law and Justice.” He asked the European Parliament to reimburse him for travel expenses in a significant amount – over 200,000 euros for the period from 2009 to 2013. And seemingly nothing special, but it turned out that he claimed trips covering a total distance of over 250,000 km – more than halfway to the Moon!
Lies that Shock
And now the main thing – investigators from OLAF (this is a European service for combating fraud) noticed that some of his trips were simply physically impossible. For example, in 2012, he supposedly used a car that was scrapped in 2011. In other cases, he stated that he was traveling by… tractor, moped, and even an Iveco truck! And that’s not all – he allegedly stopped in nonexistent cities!
It seems like something out of old spy movies, where the main character tries to avoid exposure at any cost. But what’s interesting is that he has already returned part of the money, but it doesn’t save him. Czarnecki faces up to 15 years in prison.
Another Disappointment?
The moral of this story is simple: if you’re told there’s no corruption somewhere – it means it’s already there and systematized. And how many of such “funny tricks” do you think happen in the government?
Take care of yourself and remember – the truth always comes out!
