Success of the law firm’s client – avoided repayment of over PLN 8 million in subsidie
9 July 2025 • Autor: Kancelaria Brysiewicz Bokina i Wspólnicy
Thanks to the support of our lawyers – legal advisor Krzysztof Brysiewicz, trainee solicitor Małgorzata Woźniak and trainee solicitor Katarzyna Anioł – our client, a local government unit which is a beneficiary of EU funds, avoided having to repay over PLN 8 million of the subsidy it received.
The case concerned the Authority’s verification of the correctness of a procedure – a public works contract with a total value of over PLN 30 million co-financed with EU funds, which was conducted by our client.
One of the conditions for participation in the tender was the need to document that the contractor had performed at least one of the construction works that were the subject of the contract. The awarding authority initially questioned the correctness of the procedure, claiming that the conditions imposed in the contract were excessive and imposed a financial correction on the beneficiary in the amount of 25%, which was later reduced to 5% after explanations prepared with the assistance of Kancelaria Prawna, and finally, after subsequent positions, it decided not to impose the correction on the beneficiary at all.
As a result, the Law Firm’s client avoided lengthy administrative and court proceedings, as well as the need to return over PLN 8 million.
In proceedings for the reimbursement of funds, the first stage is very important, the first control of the project, which reveals irregularities - this is when the beneficiary has the best chance of convincing the institution to change its position - the later it is, the more difficult it is, the proceedings are more advanced and the institution rarely changes its mind. We always advise our clients not to wait with explanations for the last moment, but to try as early as possible to convince the institution to change its mind and resign from the correction. This was also the case here, when the beneficiary turned to us immediately after the first control, which found irregularities. Eventually, after presenting all the arguments, we managed to convince the institution twice to change its mind - first to reduce and then to abolish the correction altogether - even before the reimbursement proceedings were initiated,' says Krzysztof Brysiewicz, partner in the law firm
We would like to encourage you to familiarise yourself with the first report in Poland entitled “Effectiveness of EU reimbursement procedures”, which was prepared by the experts of our Law Firm. The authors of the report: Krzysztof Brysiewicz, Dr. Magdalena Porzeżyńska, Prof. Rafał Poździk, Małgorzata Woźniak and Zofia Szewczuk conducted a comprehensive study of the data concerning proceedings for the reimbursement of EU funds by beneficiaries as a consequence of irregularities. They addressed dozens of institutions, both central and regional, responsible for the distribution of funds with a series of questions concerning the conducted proceedings on the reimbursement of funds, asking, among others, about their length, results or effectiveness.
Zadaj pytanie autorowi
