Who had the right to terminate the contract? Rafako and Lux ​​Veritatis in another dispute

Rafako is a company specializing in the production of boilers for the energy sector. The last few months have not been good for her; There have been many speculations about the bankruptcy of the largest employer in Racibórz as a result of the dispute with Tauron. At the end of 2023, there was a problem with the implementation of the contract for the construction of the “Memory and Identity” Museum named after Saint John Paul II. Rafako and Lux ​​Veritatis concluded a contract for the construction of the facility in 2019. The museum was supposed to be built in two years, but first the pandemic and then the outbreak of the war in Ukraine thwarted these plans.

Rafako and Lux ​​Veritatis – difficult cooperation

The museum was built with a delay, and the parties also concluded an agreement under which Rafako would remove the defects found during the acceptance of the investment by March 31, 2024. Lux Veritatis also agreed to increase the remuneration for Rafako, because after concluding the agreement, the costs of implementing the investment increased.

The condition for compensating unforeseen costs was, among others: submission of confirmed statements from subcontractors confirming the correct settlement of payments. “If Rafako is in arrears with payments to subcontractors, the museum has no right to make payments to the general contractor, but is obliged to first settle Rafako’s arrears towards the subcontractor,” we read in the statement, wrote the foundation in a statement.

The museum did not receive documents from Rafako confirming settlement with subcontractors, and even reported that, unable to wait for the money, some companies submitted claims directly to the investor. This was supposed to be the reason for withdrawing from the contract.

“The general contractor did not present the museum with a ‘Detailed Schedule of Material and Financial Recovery Plan’, despite being granted an additional deadline to fulfill this obligation. Its absence makes it impossible for the museum to control the correctness of removing defects and defectsd regarding the method of their removal, cost and deadlines,” the museum said in a statement.

Rafako does not accept withdrawal from the contract

It turns out that Rafako does not recognize the withdrawal. “The Management Board of Rafako terminated the ‘Memory and Identity’ Museum. Saint John Paul II, which is run by the Lux Veritatis Foundation of Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, a contract for the construction of the facility and an agreement to remove defects. The main reason given by the company is the complete lack of cooperation and even the investor’s obstruction of the execution of the contract and settlement,” we read in today’s company announcement.

Rafako argues that the agreement, which was signed to enable the museum to be handed over before the elections, clearly favored the foundation.

“Mainly because it allowed it to urgently settle public aid funds, but also because it accepted a questionable list of defects and significantly postponed the payment despite the facility being put into operation and additional works. (…) Our employees are not allowed on the construction site to implement the Repair Plan consisting in removing minor, insignificant defects, it sometimes happens that the ordering party does not accept correspondence from us claiming that it was destroyed, pays privileged subcontractors without our knowledge and contrary to principles of concluded contracts, does not accept the work schedule and, most importantly, does not settle our invoices,” said Robert Kuraszkiewicz, president of Rafako, quoted in the press release.

The Minister of Culture suspends additional funding

Therefore, Rafako withdrew from the contract and demands payment of almost PLN 25.5 million in remuneration, which it considers to be due. “The majority of this amount covers work already performed, while the remaining part relates to the scope of defects that Rafako intended to repair in accordance with the concluded settlement, but unfortunately the Museum prevented us from doing so,” added the president.

On Tuesday, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz announced that he had refused to secure additional funds for 2024 in the amount of over PLN 13 million for the construction of the headquarters and permanent exhibition of the Museum. The social media post explained that the refusal was related to “limited investment funds in the Budget Act for 2024.”

Museum of Memory and Identity Saint Jana Pawła II in Toruń was established in June 2018 on the basis of an agreement between the Vice-President of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Lux Veritatis Foundation. This foundation was established in 1998 by Redemptorists: Father Jan Król and Father Tadeusz Rydzyk.