Piesiewicz faces new charge over 1 million zloty damage to basketball league

New charge over league funds

Prosecutors at the National Prosecutor's Office supplemented an earlier decision on 6 November 2026, adding a charge against Radosław Piesiewicz, the former Polish Olympic Committee (PKOl) head. The charge alleges that, as president of the management board of Polska Liga Koszykówki S.A. (Polish Basketball League), he acted with others for financial gain, abused his powers and failed to supervise the company's finances. The damage is put at more than 1 million zloty.

According to the prosecutors, staff were instructed to pay supplier invoices issued to the league for hotel and restaurant services in Poland and abroad, as well as for international air tickets. Those costs, they say, related to private stays and events that were given the appearance of company business.

Justice minister Waldemar Żurek announced the charge on Tuesday, 10 November, in a post on X. He framed the case around public money:

“The money of Polish sport is not a private holiday fund for presidents.”

Earlier charges and custody

Piesiewicz was detained in Warsaw on 27 August 2026. The same day, the Silesian branch of the National Prosecutor's Office charged him in the ZondaCrypto case with paid protection and with satisfying a group of the crypto exchange's creditors to the detriment of others, given the threat of insolvency. He does not admit guilt. On 14 September the Katowice Regional Court, ruling on a defence appeal, upheld the earlier district court decision placing him in three-month pre-trial custody. Sources state that he has remained in custody since late August.

How the case was split

On 2 November the Gdańsk regional prosecutor's office announced an investigation into suspected irregularities linked to the Polish Basketball Federation, the Polish Basketball League and the Polish Olympic Committee. The case was then taken over by the National Prosecutor's Office. Żurek said the league thread, separated from the ZondaCrypto investigation, had been merged with probes into abuses at PKOl and Bank Pekao S.A. Those probes are being run together, and the prosecutors' communique links the thread to the investigation into the disappearance of Sylwester Suszek.

The prosecutors also said there was a need to further clarify Piesiewicz's activities within the Polish Olympic Committee and other bodies in Polish sport. The 6 November decision supplemented the original charging decision of 28 August.

Timeline of the proceedings