CBA detains 25 people over Ostrołęka power plant case, losses above 1 billion zloty

Detentions and searches

The Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) detained 25 people on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, in an investigation into the Ostrołęka power plant project. The operation was carried out on the orders of a prosecutor from the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok. Searches and the securing of evidence are under way at 30 locations across 11 voivodeships, Tomasz Siemoniak, minister-coordinator of special services, said on X. The probe concerns actions taken in 2018 and 2019 and a suspected loss of property at the companies Elektrownia Ostrołęka, Enea and Energa. Investigators estimate the damage at more than 1 billion zloty.

What the minister said

In an interview with TVN24, Siemoniak said the case covers everything around the plant, including the construction of the blocks, wasted money, linked local government councillors and linked companies. He said the first detainees were 'perhaps not from the front pages' of newspapers, but stressed the scale of the affair and the billions that were spent. He said the decision to settle the matter followed extensive work by the CBA and the prosecutors, and he described the case as fast-moving. The minister said the investigation would be large.

“We are starting to investigate this case very actively and it will be a huge investigation.”

Siemoniak added that the process had only just started that morning, when the detentions and searches began.

Background to the project

Preparations for a new 1,000 MW coal block at Ostrołęka, to be built by Energa, began in 2009. In September 2012 Energa halted the project because of difficulties raising market financing. In autumn 2016 Enea took over half of the stakes in the project. In spring 2018 a consortium of GE Power and Alstom won the tender for the block, a contract worth more than 6 billion zloty. A construction order was issued at the end of 2018, but the investment was suspended in spring 2020.

In June 2020 Enea and Energa decided to continue the project with a different technology, a plant using natural gas instead of a coal block. Orlen, which had been the majority owner of Energa since late April 2020, was party to a three-way agreement setting out the parties' further involvement. In December 2020 Enea said it would not take part in the gas plant, and a new investment agreement was signed that month by Energa, Orlen and PGNiG.

What remains open

The articles do not yet say what charges the 25 detainees face or whether any of them have been remanded in custody. Siemoniak indicated that the first group of detainees was not made up of the most prominent figures in the case. The searches cover business and local government links, and their outcome has not been reported. Further detentions or charges are possible as the investigation develops.