Dinners for 300 thousand zlotys, renovation of the rectory, overpaid purchases. This is how they managed in PKP LHS
It was not until June of this year that the controversial director was stripped of his position as president of the PKP Linia Hutniczo-Szerokotorowa company. “Gazeta Wyborcza” described a series of suspicious practices that should have drawn the attention of the government to Zbigniew Tracichleb much earlier.
As we read in the extensive material of “GW”, Zbigniew Tracichleb, during 30 years of work in PKP, rose from a rank-and-file driver to the president of the largest company in the Zamość region. The 66-year-old allegedly owed his career to the NSZZ “Solidarność” railway union and the PiS party. He was first nominated for the position of president of PKP LHS in 2006.
Father and daughter resign from PKP companies
He said goodbye to his position on June 14. His daughter Katarzyna Bielaszewska, the president of another PKP company called Centrum Szkoleniowe Natura Tour, was dismissed along with him. It was an entity that organized holidays, summer camps and training on simulators. According to informants from “GW”, the 39-year-old would not have made such a career without her father’s protection. Tracichleb’s son-in-law Damian, who co-runs Logistor with Bielaszewska, is also said to have benefited from his connections.
The auditors pointed out that if PKP LHS performed transshipment services on its own, its revenues could be up to 10 percent higher. Meanwhile, without a tender, it commissions such services from one of the logistics companies, where Damian Bielaszewski is the manager. An interpellation on these family connections in PKP was submitted in 2021 by Porozumienie MP Michał Wypij. Without much effect.
300 thousand PLN for a business meeting
“GW” noticed that after August 2020, when Bielaszewska joined the board of PKP CS Natura Tour, the rules for organizing integration and special events changed. Hundreds of thousands of złoty were spent from the social fund. The audit was to show that under the new president, the increase in the use of PKP LHS funds more than doubled.
In the distinguished Duo Spa Janów Lubelski hotel, the company ordered services for three years for PLN 1.4 million, PLN 1.9 million and PLN 705 thousand, respectively, in the first quarter of 2024. Amounts exceeding PLN 300 thousand were spent on individual business meetings.
Railway workers renovated the parish
The wide flow of money from the PKP LHS coffers for the parishes of the Zamość-Lubaczów diocese is also noteworthy. In the years 2016-2020, it officially amounted to over PLN 150,000. Additionally, railway workers renovated the rectory building during working hours for many days, for example. Right-wing media also benefited from Tracichleb, receiving PLN 400,000 for advertisements and promotional texts, while less favorable titles did not receive a penny.
For the scandal related to the aforementioned renovation, Tracichleb said goodbye to his job for the first time. An audit commissioned in 2016 showed that ten railway companies (including PKP LHS) had overpaid dearly for the purchase and implementation of systems necessary for the ISO certificate and business continuity plan. Instead of PLN 550,000, PLN 27 million was spent. One of the signatures was made by Tracichleb at that time.
In 2013, Zbigniew Tracichleb was dismissed from the position of president. PKP filed a notice to the Central Anticorruption Bureau, and the case of wasting public funds was referred to the prosecutor’s office. However, serious allegations did not prevent the director from returning three years later, after Beata Szydło’s government took power. Why did he stay in the position until June of this year? This is a question that the journalists of “GW” left hanging.
