Syndic under fire for accusations
Entities whose bankruptcy is being handled by Krzysztof Golab accuse him of deliberately prolonging the procedure in order to reap material benefits.
Onet describes the activities of Warsaw-based trustee Krzysztof Golab, about whom the companies whose bankruptcy he is handling have serious accusations. According to information gleaned by the portal, he has numerous connections in the courts, through which he gets to conduct bankruptcies of major companies with considerable assets. He has handled the proceedings of, among others, the Praktiker chain of stores, the highway construction company Alpine Bau, Pol-Mot Holding, the Infrastructure Repair Company and Quantum Fund. He also acted in the bankruptcy of Hawe.
The entities that decided to share their stories with Onet claim that the trustee knowingly and deliberately prolongs bankruptcy in order to reap material benefits. He initiates many costly lawsuits on behalf of bankrupt companies. They are conducted by lawyers employed by his law firm or those who cooperate with him. Legal services cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of zlotys a year. From June to July 2022 alone, the total fees of Krzysztof Golab’s law firm amounted to nearly PLN 2 million. In addition, Krzysztof Golab benefits materially from the rental of his law firm’s space. The costs are charged to bankrupt companies.
Among others, the Śródmiejska Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa in Warsaw, which owns attractive real estate in the very center of Warsaw, shared its story with Onet. It has been in liquidation for seven years. Its debts are growing year by year. The cooperative’s authorities claim that Krzysztof Golab has worsened its finances in recent years. In their view, he manipulates the qualification of expenses and the accounting for income and expenses. In turn, he shows unreliable financial data in accounting reports. The cooperative pays large sums every month for lawyers’ fees. In 2017, this cost her more than PLN 2.6 million. To date, the creditors have recovered nothing. Instead, the cooperative has become impoverished by some PLN 13 million, and its debt has increased by another PLN 12 million.
Pawel Paradowski, a bankrupt fruit grower from near Grojec, also has a lot to accuse Krzysztof Golębi of. He ran the Fruit Logistic group of producers. He claims that the trustee wants to sell Fruit Logistic’s assets for about 25% of their value. Pawel Paradowski has also filed a report on the trustee with the CBA and the prosecutor’s office. He accuses him of mismanagement, inflating bankruptcy costs, and pumping money out of the cooperative.
In addition, a notice to the CBA on the receiver Krzysztof Golab in 2019 was filed by a large real estate development company “Wlodarzewska”. The Warsaw-based developer alleges that after 60 months of bankruptcy, he has already spent approx. PLN 14 million, but has not yet satisfied any creditors.
In general, about 20 notices of various kinds have been filed against the trustee, Krzysztof Golob. They have gone to the prosecutor’s office, the police, the Disciplinary Ombudsman of the Bar Association, and the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Entities that feel aggrieved by the trustee have asked the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Zbigniew Ziobra to intervene several times in recent years. However, the services attached to the Justice Ministry did not find any irregularities.
Onet journalists approached Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Warchol with the issue. He ordered an audit at the ministry and the national prosecutor’s office.
Actions against Krzysztof Golab are currently being conducted by the CBA.
Krzysztof Golab, in response to Onet’s request for a position on the allegations, dismisses them all. He explains that the prosecutors’ offices have found no irregularities in his activities, and the courts are reviewing his actions and reports on an ongoing basis. He argues that his work is also supervised by the Creditors’ Councils. They approve his accounting reports as correct. He denies that he has inflated costs in his proceedings.
