Decision of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Siedlce; Polish Lyoness bank accounts frozen! Most important parts translated into English
‘Among the charges brought was the crime of fraud involving significant assets,…….’
‘the collected funds were exposed to investment risk without holding the required authorisation,……’
‘On 22 December 2020, the Prokuratura Okręgowa w Warszawie [District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw] received a criminal complaint lodged against the directors of Lyconet International AG based in Vienna, Lyconet Global AG based in Zurich, Lyoness Europe AG based in Buchs, myWorld Poland sp. z o.o. based in Kraków. Among the charges brought was the crime of fraud involving significant assets.’
These are just some excerpts from the certified translation of the decision by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Siedlce. Additional criminal charges are also being brought against those responsible in Austria and Spain.
Following proceedings lasting two years, the result of their efforts was the decision to freeze the bank accounts of the Polish Lyoness branch. The entire text of the decision to freeze the accounts is publicly available on the website of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Alternatively, you can follow the links to it below the article.
The case has also attracted the attention of the Inspector General for Financial Information, the authority responsible for cases of money laundering. The authority filed a complaint citing the possibility of money laundering by Lyoness.
Lyoness are said to have resisted the freezing of their accounts, but it has now been ordered officially. The accounts have been frozen for six months and this can be extended for another 6 months if required, we are told. This also means that the other companies connected with myWorld, etc. in Poland cannot perform transactions and that the accumulated funds are now evidence in the proceedings. However, we have been unable to learn the exact amount.
We are in contact with the authorities and law firms and inform them[ED1] as soon as we learn of new decisions or measures.
These are the most important passages from the decision in English:
The Prokuratura Okręgowa w Siedlcach [District Prosecutor’s Office in Siedlce]conducts the pre-trial proceedings, originally conducted by the Prokuratura Okręgowa w Warszawie [District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw], in the criminal case referenced below:
1. Representative of the company Lyoness Europe AG, registered in Switzerland,
knowingly and intentionally colluded with one another in acquiring means of payment
in the total amount of PLN 21,098,062.64 as well as EUR 950,163.24 that originated from a benefit gained from a criminal offence, via bank accounts with ING Bank Śląski S.A., committing acts that may frustrate or significantly complicate the identification of the criminal origin of the funds or their location, their detection, seizure or forfeiture, i.e. have committed a criminal offence under Art. 299(1) and (5) of the [Polish] Criminal Code;
2. In an unspecified place and at an unspecified time, representatives of the Lyconet Marketing Program (formerly the Lyoness Loyalty Program), for the purpose of obtaining a pecuniary advantage, induced an unspecified number of persons to disadvantageously dispose of their property in the amount of no less than PLN 4,295.930.49 by deceiving these persons as to the possibility of obtaining pecuniary benefits by investing and participating in the above-mentioned programme, i.e. committing a criminal offence under Art. 286(1) of the [Polish] Criminal Code in conjunction with Art. 294(1) of the [Polish] Criminal Code;
3. They collected funds from members of the programme known as the Lyconet Marketing Program (previously the Lyoness Loyalty Program) in an unspecified place and at an unspecified time in the context of the sale of interests in profits, and subsequently exposed the collected funds to investment risk without holding the required authorisation, i. e. committed a criminal offence under Art. 287 (1) of the Act on Investment Funds and the Management of Alternative Investment Funds [Ustawa o funduszach inwestycyjnych i zarządzaniu alternatywnymi funduszami inwestycyjnymi] of 27 May 2004;
as well as for the further criminal offences that were included in the present proceedings with regard to the identical subjects and objects.
On 22 December 2020, the Prokuratura Okręgowa w Warszawie [District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw] received a criminal complaint lodged against the directors of Lyconet International AG based in Vienna, Lyconet Global AG based in Zurich, Lyoness Europe AG based in Buchs, myWorld Poland sp. z o.o. based in Kraków. Among the charges brought was the crime of fraud involving significant assets, i.e. a criminal offence under Art. 286(1) of the [Polish] Criminal Code in conjunction with Art. 294(1) of the [Polish] Criminal Code. The complaint was factually and legally based on the fact that the suspected legal entities set up a marketing system, similar to a pyramid scheme, in which the reaping of financial benefits was tied to the condition of bringing further customers into the system through consumers, which is prohibited in principle, inter alia, in the Unfair Competition Act.
