Couple charged with selling tap water as “innovative product” to Poland’s biggest power plant for €5m

Prosecutors have charged a husband and wife with defrauding Bełchatów, the largest coal power plant in Europe, out of more than 21 million zloty (€5 million) by supplying the station with what they claimed was a patented industrial product but was actually just slightly modified tap water.

The alleged scam, which went on for years, targeted a critical part of the plant’s operations aimed at reducing sulphur dioxide emissions through its flue gas desulphurisation system. Belchatów is Europe’s highest-emitting power plant, and Poland in general has some of the worst air quality in Europe.

The 45-year-old woman who led the company behind the alleged scheme and her 55-year-old husband – both Polish nationals – were arrested in Spain under a European arrest warrant and extradited to Poland. They were placed in temporary custody for a period of three months.

Prosecutors allege that the suspects deceived the power station by selling it what they claimed was an “innovative and patented preparation” to limit sediment formation in sulfur absorbers. However, the product was ordinary tap water with the addition of chlorine and phosphoric acid and had no meaningful effect.

The pair have been charged with leading a criminal group, committing fraud, issuing fictitious invoices and tax evasion that cost the state eight million zloty (in addition to the money fraudulently earned from Belchatów). Together, the crimes could carry a prison sentence of up to 25 years.

The investigation, conducted by the prosecutor’s office and the Internal Security Agency (ABW) in the city of Łódź, has so far led to charges against eight individuals, including an employee of the power station accused of accepting a 20,000 zloty bribe and a paid foreign trip.

One of the suspects also allegedly falsified test results from an independent lab to support the fraudulent claims about the product being sold to the power plant.

“We are planning further charges in this case,” Kopania said, adding that prosecutors have already secured suspect assets, including cash and a historical palace worth 4 million zlotys, which housed one of the companies involved.

According to a 2023 report by the energy think tank Ember, which analysed data from the EU Emissions Trading System, Bełchatów has ranked as the EU’s highest-emitting power plant every year since the system began in 2005.

In 2022, it released 35 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e), more than 10 Mt higher than the second-largest emitter, Germany’s Neurath power station.

Poland has consistently ranked among the countries with the worst air pollution in the EU. Coal, which is used for the majority of Poland’s power generation and also to heat around a third of homes, is the primary cause of the problem.

Main image credit: Roman Ranniew/Flickr (under CC BY 2.0)