Marcin Romanowski, allegations regarding the Justice Fund. There is a decision on temporary arrest

On Monday, the District Court for Warsaw-Mokotów considered the request of the National Prosecutor's Office for arrest against Marcin Romanowski. The politician's defense attorney, Bartosz Lewandowski, announced that the court had imposed arrest on the former deputy minister for a period of three months. He announced an appeal against this court decision.

Referring to the issue of Romanowski's health, Lewandowski said that “the court noted that if the MP is detained, he should serve the period of pre-trial detention in a facility that will provide him with appropriate medical conditions to improve his health.”

He said the court's decision “is unfair and incomprehensible.”

Prosecutor Piotr Woźniak told journalists that the court found, in line with the prosecutor's request, that “the grounds for applying pre-trial detention in this case are, on the one hand, the fear of the so-called procedural tampering, and the fact that the suspect will illegally obstruct the course of criminal proceedings, and as the second condition is also the issue related to the real threat of severe punishment being imposed on the suspect.

– The court also shared the position of the prosecutor's office in that there is a high probability that the suspect committed the alleged acts – he added.

Woźniak said that “the court did not agree with the defense arguments that the suspect's health condition would prevent him from staying in pretrial detention at all.” However, he added, he pointed out that “if the suspect is detained, he is recommended to be placed in a penitentiary unit with a hospital.”

When asked when Romanowski might be detained, he replied that it was difficult to say whether it would happen today or tomorrow. – These are issues handled by the police – he added.

When asked which detention center the politician could be sent to, he replied that it was the closest one to the place of detention. He added that it is difficult for him to say “which arrest it will be, because it will also depend on medical examinations, which will show what specific medical care the suspect needs.”

When asked whether the prosecutor's office knew where the suspect was, he replied that “the prosecutor's office does not provide information about the suspect's whereabouts.”

In the first point of the decision, the court discontinued the proceedings regarding one of the charges brought against the MP by the prosecutor's office. As prosecutor Woźniak said, this charge concerned the abuse of powers related to misappropriation. According to the court, this act exceeded the scope of consent of the Sejm and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to prosecute Romanowski.

The prosecutor's office – according to Woźniak – will not withdraw from this charge, because the evidence collected in the case “indicates a high probability that the suspect committed this act.” Woźniak added that the prosecutor's office will take procedural steps to eliminate this irregularity “if any actually occurred.” When asked, he said that another request to waive Romanowski's immunity is possible – if necessary.

Even before the hearing began, Romanowski's defense attorney said that the politician would not appear in court. – He underwent a very serious operation. I have appropriate documentation for this, he said.

When asked by journalists whether the court can hear the case without Romanowski's presence, his lawyer confirmed that from a formal point of view it is possible. He did not want to answer the question whether the MP was in hospital and whether he intended to file a motion to postpone the case again.

The court was supposed to decide on possible arrest on November 28, but the meeting was adjourned due to the absence of Romanowski, who presented a medical certificate confirming his illness.

Before 12 p.m., Romanowski's defense attorney announced that he had not submitted a request to postpone the hearing. He added that during the meeting he provided a medical certificate about the health condition of the former deputy minister. – Due to Mr. Marcin Romanowski's surgery, he could not appear today. Indeed, he had very serious complications, even life-threatening. But we did not ask for a postponement or change of this date due to the fact that we did not want it to look like some kind of destabilization, he said.

In response to the prosecutor's request, Lewandowski submitted a letter requesting that the request for provisional arrest be rejected. He added that the letter included arguments not only regarding his health condition, but also formal and substantive issues. The attorney emphasized that he saw no purpose in arresting Romanowski.

– I submitted an application for the application for pre-trial detention to be accepted – said Piotr Woźniak, prosecutor, after 12 p.m. He added that after the court session, a break was ordered. – After a break, the court will probably issue a decision on the prosecutor's request for pre-trial detention – he said.

Prosecutor Woźniak emphasized that the criminal procedure provides for the possibility of arresting the accused, taking into account his health condition. – Article 260 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows a person under temporary arrest to be placed in an appropriate medical facility – he said.

PiS MP Janusz Kowalski published a photo of Romanowski on the X platform on Monday evening.

“MP Marcin Romanowski. After serious surgery. With hemorrhage. Tusk and Bodnar bear full responsibility for the life of MP Romanowski, who will be their next political prisoner,” he wrote.

The National Prosecutor's Office accuses the politician of committing 11 crimes, including participation in an organized criminal group and fixing competitions for money from the Justice Fund. These crimes allegedly involved indicating to subordinate employees entities that should win competitions for subsidies from the Justice Fund.

Romanowski also allegedly ordered corrections of erroneous offers before submitting them and allowed grants to be awarded to entities that did not meet formal and material requirements. The charges also concern the misappropriation of money in the total amount of over PLN 107 million and attempted misappropriation of over PLN 58 million.

The National Prosecutor's Office has been conducting a multi-threaded investigation into the Justice Fund since February. In her opinion, the need to arrest Romanowski results from a real fear of him tampering with and obstructing the proceedings by coordinating the content of explanations and testimonies with other people, as well as destroying or hiding evidence.

According to prosecutor Piotr Woźniak, Romanowski was supposed to make arrangements with other co-suspects, including: Urszula D., Karolina K. and Tomasz M., evidence that should be destroyed so that it does not reach representatives of law enforcement agencies and the justice system. Moreover, he and other co-suspects determined the content of untrue trial statements.

Other grounds for applying pre-trial detention against Romanowski include the severe penalty he faces – up to 25 years in prison and the high probability of committing the alleged acts.