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Tomasz Wojciech Misiak (born 7 July 1973 in Wrocław) is a Polish politician and businessman. He co-founded Work Service, the biggest Polish employment agency and served as a senator, representing Civic Platform.[1]
In 1995, a political organization at the Wrocław University of Economics where Misiak was active had grown almost tenfold with fictitious members.[3][4]
Biography
Misiak co-founded Work Service, a temporary employment agency in Poland, and served as its vice president from 1999 to 2007.[2]
Since 2011 he has been an owner and manager of HMS Investment Fund LTD. In 2012 he has been elected as a vice president of the biggest Polish employers organisation Pracodawcy RP. In 2013 he was also appointed as a member of BIAC and member of New Leader of Tomorrow in Crans Montana Forum organisation.[citation needed]
On October 8, 2019, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders dismissed Misiak from the Supervisory Board of Work Service.[5]
Political career
Misiak entered politics as a member of the Union of Freedom and later joined the Civic Platform party. He was elected to the Wrocław City Council in 1998[citation needed] and served as chairman of the Economic Initiatives Committee.
In 2000, as a Wrocław councilor, he co-directed the Euro Art Meeting association, which organized an event to celebrate the millennium. It turned out that the event cost nearly 4 million Polish złoty,[vague] and the organizers were unable to account for 250,000 zł before the Supreme Audit Office.
In 2005, he was elected to the Senate of Poland and was re-elected in 2007.[citation needed] As a senator, Misiak chaired the Senate Committee on Economy and also engaged in activities of European Union Committee.
In November 2008, Rzeczpospolita revealed that Misiak had lobbied for the enactment of regulations concerning commodity vouchers for employees, with a market worth 2 billion zł at stake (equivalent to 2.64 billion zł in 2021). The issue concerned the possibility of selling vouchers below their nominal value, which would consolidate the hypermarket monopoly.
In 2011, Misiak ran for re-election to the Senate but was unsuccessful. He ran from the election committee of the Union of Presidents - Citizens for the Senate but did not win a seat again.
Removal from Civic Platform
On 17 March 2009, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk removed Misiak from the Civic Platform party due to a scandal involving his company Work Service receiving a contract from the Polish government for job training and placement services for laid-off shipyard workers.[6] He was accused of a conflict of interest since he was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Economy, which had worked on the legislation regarding liquidation of shipyards in Gdańsk and Szczecin which made the contract possible. Later, the Industrial Development Agency and his company terminated the agreement regarding services for shipyard workers.[7][8]
Misiak was removed from his position as chairman of the Senate Committee on Economy and left Civic Platform. He also lost his position as the head of the party's campaign for the European Parliament.[9]
Post-political scandals
In 2017, the Prosecutor's Office publicly released information about celebrities, politicians and other prominent figures who were clients of a drug dealer, naming Misiak among the clients. Misiak was mentioned in the dealer's indictment as one of his regular customers. Misiak was repeatedly recorded by the Central Investigation Bureau of Police while purchasing cocaine, and these recordings were one of the prosecution's evidence against the dealer. Cezary P., the "star dealer," was convicted and sentenced to prison in December 2019.[non sequitur] The court case took place with participation of the media and was open to public.[10][11][12]
In June 2021, protests erupted after a consortium led by TLScontact, which included Misiak's new company Personnel Service S.A. and Ukrainian company Viza Staff, was awarded the contract for handling visa applications and small border crossings at the Polish Embassy in Kyiv. Concerns were raised over the consortium's inclusion of a recruitment agency, as well as Misiak's alleged links to Russian intelligence. Demonstrators gathered outside the embassy to protest against the possibility of Ukrainian workers being exploited by the consortium, potentially leading to a monopoly on the Polish job market for Ukrainians. The controversy surrounding Misiak and the TLScontact consortium highlighted concerns about transparency and accountability in Poland's visa application process.[13]
In December 2022, Misiak faced legal trouble as the Warsaw Court of Appeals upheld the decision by the International Court of Arbitration concerning the sale of Work Service S.A. shares. Misiak was found to owe nearly 6 million zł to the Italian company Gi Group Spa. He claimed he was forced to sell his shares and refused to execute the agreement. However, the court did not find these claims to be true.[14] Gi Group obtained a favorable verdict, and Misiak was ordered to pay 5.9 million zł. Misiak's appeal was dismissed, and he was charged with full court costs of 200,000 zł.[15][16][17]
Gi Group publicly announced that they had not yet received the compensation awarded from Misiak, as he declared that he had no assets or properties, and the bailiff executing the judgment could not find any assets either.[18]
Detention and criminal charges
In October 2022, Misiak was one of four people detained by the Central Anticorruption Bureau and the Central Investigation Bureau of Police in a large-scale operation related to a multi-year investigation into fraud and embezzlement of over 42 million zł from the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons and the Social Insurance Institution between 2010 and 2019.[19][20] Misiak was charged with managing a criminal group, money laundering, defrauding public funds, large-scale fraud, committing crimes against workers' rights, and making false statements in documents. Around 22,000 workers were victimized in the case.[21][22][23]
On 14 November 2022, the court found a high probability of the accused committing the alleged acts and applied a series of preventive measures against Misiak, including passport confiscation,[24] property guarantee, police supervision, and a ban on leaving the country.[25] In October 2024, Misiak was again detained and interrogated by officers of Central Anticorruption Bureau and the Special Prosecution Office. Another three board members of Misiak's former agency were arrested as well.[26]
