Decision to bail individuals linked to fuel mafia branded as outrageous

Judges agreed in a local court in Katowice to bail four persons that were he ld in custody, suspected of being involved in a fraud totalling zl. 80 milli on in the fuel scandal that hit the headlines last week. They were released on bail of between zl. 30,000 to zl. 400,000 each, and were forced to surren der their passports. Prosecutors and officers from Central Bureau of Investi gation (CBS) who were working on the case were infuriated by the decision, a s was Interior Minister Krzysztof Janik. "It is good that the court is makin g decisions based on the evidence and not on the pressure of public opini on," said Teresa Truchlinska-Binasik, a court representative. The general fi scal inspector claims that losses to taxation connected with the so-called f uel mafia could be even ten times smaller than reported by CBS, amounting to a little over zl. 1 billion. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A3; Zycie, pp. 1, 6) M .M.