The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Katowice (Poland) filed an indictment on 8 September 2026 at the Circuit Court in Katowice against two suspects accused of attempting to fraudulently obtain €3.3 million in EU funding to establish nurseries across the country.
The defendants, acting jointly and on behalf of a series of companies represented by them, filed 15 applications to obtain subsidies to open nurseries all over Poland. The applications were submitted online to several financing institutions, namely the regional authorities in the Silesian, Pomeranian, Warmian–Masurian, Lublin, Lesser Poland and Greater Poland Voivodeships. All the communication between suspects and financing authorities was also conducted online.
The defendants requested funds amounting to €3 333 407,10 (PLN 14 333 650,44), co-financed by the European Social Fund+ (MF 2021-2027) and the State budget, through the programme “Maluch+” (‘Toddler+’).
When the financing entities asked the defendants to provide documents confirming their rights to the premises where the nurseries were set to be opened, they provided lease contracts, after which the funding applications were approved.
However, it was later discovered that the lease contracts were fake and that the suspects did not own or have rights to any property in the cities where the nurseries were supposed to open. The payments were put on hold after police alerted the financing institutions that the contracts may have been falsified.
