Roman Ż. taken to prosecutor's office in Katowice in ZondaCrypto scandal case
Roman Ż., partner of missing Sylwester Suszek, was detained on Saturday and taken to the Katowice branch of the National Prosecutor's Office. The Justice Minister revealed that the suspect planned to flee to China.
Detention of Suszek's partner in ZondaCrypto investigation
On Sunday morning, cameras and photojournalists captured the moment when a man in a hood and handcuffs was escorted into the Śląskie branch of the National Prosecutor's Office in Katowice. According to wiadomosci.gazeta.pl, national prosecutor spokeswoman Anna Adamiak confirmed to the Polish Press Agency that the man brought in was Roman Ż. Adamiak announced that information about the actions conducted with the detainee would be made public, likely in the form of an official prosecutor's office statement.
The detention took place on Saturday afternoon in the Śląskie Voivodeship. "On the orders of the Śląskie Remote Branch of the National Prosecutor's Office in Katowice, officers of the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime and Śląskie Police detained Roman Ż.," police said in a statement published on platform X.
Fear of flight to China
Justice Minister and National Prosecutor Waldemar Żurek explained on Saturday evening on TVN24 why the action had to be accelerated. "A person suspected in the investigation wanted to flee to China. We know that it is very difficult to extradite such a person from that country to present them before a Polish court," Żurek said.
Adamiak informed that the detention took place precisely because of reasonable fear of Roman Ż.'s flight. On the prosecutor's orders, both the place of detention and the place of registration of the suspect were searched. During the search, officers secured valuable watches and documentation related to ZondaCrypto.
Who is Roman Ż.
Roman Ż. was Sylwester Suszek's partner for many years, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange BitBay — the predecessor of ZondaCrypto. Wirtualna Polska obtained court records and correspondence showing that Ż. was a key business partner of Suszek: Ż.'s company built the seat of the exchange in Katowice, and the two men jointly purchased a house in Spain for 760,000 euros.
Since 2019, the prosecutor's office has accused Roman Ż. of heading an organised criminal group and money laundering. The investigation concerns 28 million zlotys that flowed through BitBay accounts.
Sylwester Suszek's fate remains unclear
Sylwester Suszek went missing in March 2022. Minister Żurek addressed this matter on Thursday, 3 September on Polsat News, when programme host Marcin Fijołek asked whether the authorities had a hypothesis about the fate of the BitBay founder. The journalist noted that from the Wednesday press conference it could be inferred that Suszek is probably dead.
Source: Google News PL