Treasury under fire over bungled VAT charges

The fiscal office claimed zł.16 million in excessive VAT payments from the IT company and accused its then president Roman Kluska of tax fraud. In 2003 the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) found the charges groundless and ordered Kluska be released from prison. Optimus is now striking back and is claiming zł.35 million in damages. Kluska himself also sued the state for damages for his groundless 1-year arrest but has so far only been awarded zł.5,000. Another IT company, JTT from Wrocław, went bankrupt due to an erroneous tax office decision. It finally won in the NSA and now one of its shareholders is also suing the state for damages. (Gazeta Wyborcza, August 5-6, p. 27)