NIK report points to widespread irregularities in hypermarket zoning

The recently released Supreme Board of Inspection (NIK) report on hypermarket zoning suggests widespread corruption at the local government level. Of 54 permits to build hypermarkets analyzed by NIK, 14 were issued illegally, as were nearly half of the zoning decisions investigated by NIK. The auditing agency also found instances of local governments not collecting money to which they were entitled. According to NIK's calculations, the city of Wroclaw lost some zl. 9.6 million and Lodz around zl. 13.9 million in zoning fees which could have been levied but were not. Meanwhile, private intermediaries who bought land from local governments or the state and then quickly sold it to hypermarkets at prices sometimes even 50 times higher earned millions. Local governments are estimated to have lost a total of zl. 26.8 million due to irregularities discovered by NIK, while Treasury Agricultural Ownership Agency (AWRSP) losses amounted to zl. 21 million. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B2) T.J.