Polish services detain 11 university leaders in expanding Collegium Humanum probe

Joint operation targets private university leadership

Officers from the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) and the Border Guard detained 11 individuals on 29 September in connection with the Collegium Humanum corruption probe. The coordinated actions took place across the Mazowieckie and Wielkopolskie regions under the direction of the Silesian branch of the National Prosecutor's Office in Katowice. CBA agents detained six suspects who currently hold or previously held senior management positions at two private higher education institutions, while Border Guard officers carried out five detentions. The Katowice branch of the National Prosecutor's Office and the CBA Regional Office in Rzeszów coordinate the investigation, scheduling the transfer of all detained persons to the prosecutor's office for formal procedural questioning later the same day.

Special services coordinator spokesperson Jacek Dobrzyński confirmed the operational scope on social media:

This is a continuation of a multi-threaded investigation related to the Collegium Humanum affair, concerning diploma trading and money laundering.

Diploma trade and state company appointments

The broader inquiry addresses a systematic network established after Collegium Humanum opened in Warsaw in 2018. Public reporting by the weekly magazine Newsweek originally reported irregularities at the institution in 2022, prompting prosecutors to open formal inquiries. Investigators found that university executives issued fraudulent diplomas, including Master of Business Administration (MBA), bachelor's, and master's credentials, in exchange for personal and financial kickbacks. Candidates obtained degrees within months without attending mandatory lectures, passing exams, or completing academic theses. These accelerated certificates satisfied legal requirements that qualified holders to sit on supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises and municipal companies. The inquiry extends across 26 private universities, including several inactive institutions where personnel fabricated student documentation with retroactive dates.

Prominent suspects and accreditation bribery

The case involves public figures, university administrators, and oversight officials. Former Collegium Humanum rector Paweł Cz. faces charges of leading an organized criminal group that facilitated the fraudulent credentials. Prosecutors also brought four charges against Wrocław Mayor Jacek Sutryk, including handing financial benefits to the rector, inciting the issuance of false documents, and three counts of fraud totaling nearly 500,000 PLN. Other named suspects include former PiS members of the European Parliament Karol Karski and Ryszard Czarnecki, former presidential spokesperson Błażej Spychalski, and former State Fire Service commanders. Prosecutors also charged Artur G., former director and secretary of the Polish Accreditation Committee social sciences unit, with accepting over 900,000 PLN in bribes to approve new academic programs and branch campuses.

Scale of charges, asset freezes, and court verdicts

The case file represents one of the largest academic corruption proceedings handled by the Katowice prosecutor's office. Depending on official counts cited by authorities, between 83 and 84 suspects have faced between 407 and 475 individual criminal charges. Courts applied pre-trial detention to 13 suspects and prosecutors imposed 192 distinct preventive measures throughout the investigation. Law enforcement agencies secured over 176 million PLN along with nearly 600,000 EUR in assets. One week prior to the 29 September operation, the Warsaw District Court delivered the first convictions in a related branch of the case, sentencing six former private university rectors and vice-rectors to one-year suspended prison terms and financial fines.