The High Court ordered Piotr Antkiewicz surrendered to Poland under a European Arrest Warrant, after rejecting his objections to the request. The ruling, delivered by Ms Justice Murphy on 19 December 2014, followed a surrender hearing under section 16 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003. The court said the statutory requirements were met and that no ground prohibiting surrender had been established.
The warrant seeks Antkiewicz’s surrender in connection with three alleged offences in Legnica between 2005 and 2007: directing others to falsify scrap-metal purchase records; submitting VAT returns containing alleged false information; and using another company’s name for invoices relating to scrap-metal and wooden-palette purchases. The court did not determine whether he committed those offences. It considered whether the allegations corresponded to offences under Irish law and concluded they did, including false accounting and tax offences.
Antkiewicz argued that the warrant did not adequately describe his alleged involvement or establish the required link to an arrest decision in Poland. The court rejected both objections. It found the warrant and supporting information sufficiently identified the allegations and the underlying judicial decision.
He also argued that no decision had been made to charge and try him, relying in part on a Polish authority’s statement that he was “not requested to participate in a trial”. The court considered that statement alongside other correspondence. It found the evidence showed he was already the subject of criminal proceedings and held that the statutory presumption of a decision to charge and try had not been rebutted. Polish authorities had said that, after surrender, he would be heard by a prosecutor and that the investigation could not be completed without that interview; they also indicated an indictment was expected based on the evidence gathered.
The court accepted that Antkiewicz had a serious heart condition and had required hospital treatment during the proceedings. He argued that surrender would disrupt his medical care and interfere disproportionately with his private and family life. The judge held that ill health alone did not bar surrender and that his assertion about inadequate care in Poland was unsupported by further proof. The court also found his ties to Ireland relatively limited, noting that his elderly mother and sister lived in Poland.
The court acknowledged that the European warrant was issued about three and a half years after a Polish detention decision, and that the delay was unexplained. It found the period was not unreasonable in the circumstances, including that Antkiewicz had left Poland in 2008. The judge concluded that the evidence did not establish a disproportionate interference with his rights.
The court ordered surrender to a person authorised to receive him. It then invited submissions on its powers under section 18; the judgment does not record a decision on that issue.