A former colleague of Polish President Karol Nawrocki has testified in court that he told her it was possible to “make some extra money by bringing girls in” when they both worked at a luxury hotel two decades ago, according to Notes from Poland.
The testimony was heard in a defamation case brought by Nawrocki himself against the publisher of Onet, a major Polish news website that published allegations about his conduct just days before last year’s presidential election. The president has vigorously denied the claims and is suing for an apology.
Natasza Geldon, who worked at the Grand Hotel in Sopot between 2006 and 2007, appeared as a witness after the judge ruled Tuesday’s hearing would be open to the public. Previous sessions in the case, which began in September, had been held behind closed doors.
What the witness told the court
Geldon testified that one evening she noticed Nawrocki, who worked as a security guard at the time, leading a man and a woman into the hotel. He then took only the woman into an elevator and returned alone, she said.
This struck her as unusual because staff were not supposed to escort guests into the hotel, “let alone take them upstairs” in the lift, Geldon told the court, according to broadcaster TVP.
“When Karol came back downstairs, I asked him what was going on,” she continued. “He said it was possible to make some extra money by bringing girls in, and asked if I wanted to join in.”
Geldon, who was 19 at the time, refused the offer. She told the court: “I had the impression that a pimp had been coming in with a prostitute.” However, when asked to confirm if she had actually seen prostitutes in the hotel, she said: “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. It was just that one incident.”
Background to the court case
In May last year, less than a week before the run-off vote between Nawrocki and his rival Rafał Trzaskowski, Onet published an article titled “Karol Nawrocki and the secrets of the Grand Hotel”. The piece claimed, citing unnamed former colleagues, that he had “participated in bringing prostitutes for guests” while working as a security guard almost 20 years earlier.
The revelations caused a major scandal during the campaign. Nawrocki, a conservative candidate aligned with the right-wing opposition, called the report a “pack of lies” and vowed to sue. He narrowly won the election despite the allegations.
The president then filed a lawsuit against Ringier Axel Springer Polska, the German-Swiss media company that owns Onet, demanding an apology. The publisher stood by the reporting, describing it as “factual” and saying its sources had expressed willingness to testify in court.
A second witness called by Nawrocki’s own legal team, Łukasz Franczak—described as a longtime friend who worked in hotel security alongside the president—testified on Tuesday that there had been prostitutes in the hotel. However, he said he had not heard of any organised operation to supply them to guests, nor had he witnessed Nawrocki procuring prostitutes or discussing payment for them, Onet reported.
Judge Aleksandra Orzechowska has ordered Nawrocki to give testimony directly, either in person or remotely, at the next hearing scheduled for 18 January 2027. The president’s lawyers had requested he be allowed to provide written testimony instead.
What this means for Poles in Poland
The case places Poland’s sitting president in an unusual position: he will be required to testify under oath about allegations dating back to his time working in private security. While Nawrocki brought the lawsuit himself to clear his name, the public hearings have now aired testimony that partially corroborates claims made during the election campaign.
For Polish citizens, the court proceedings offer rare transparency into accusations that emerged at a critical moment in the democratic process. The January hearing will be closely watched, as Nawrocki’s direct testimony may shed further light on what occurred at the Grand Hotel in Sopot between 2006 and 2007. Regardless of the legal outcome, the case underscores ongoing tensions between Poland’s current government and the conservative forces aligned with the president, as well as questions about what voters knew—or could have known—before casting their ballots last year.