Mazur's cash makes great escape

Edward Mazur, a Polish-American businessman alleged to have been involved in the assassination of Police Chief Marek Papała in 1998, has managed to transfer millions of złoty out of Poland to his home in the US despite the Polish Justice Ministry's attempts to have him extradited. Former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro fought fiercely for Mazur to be extradited from the United States, but a US court refused.

Mazur has been suspected of involvement in Papała's murder since January 2005. Minister Ziobro was outraged that Mazur was allowed to earn money in Poland while being wanted for the crime. He blamed others for the negligence. "I couldn't take care of everything. This was up to the prosecutors," Ziobro said.

The controversial businessman managed to transfer more than zł.5 million out of Poland, money which came from dividends and the sale of a stake in food company Bakoma-Bis. The Prosecutor's Office could have acquired all of Mazur's assets but only seized his 150-sqm flat and zł.1 million from his brokerage account. It was not at all interested in Bakoma-Bis.

"I was very surprised that the prosecutor did not take Mr Mazur's stake," Bakoma-Bis CEO Jerzy Czerwiński admitted.

Because the prosecutor failed to act, Mazur was able to gain a zł.400,000 dividend in 2006. In 2007, he sold his 26-percent stake in Bakoma-Bis. Around 18 percent was acquired by Bakoma-Bis for zł.3.2 million, while the remainder was bought by the Komorowski family, the co-owner of the company, for zł.1.6 million.