Antoni Macierewicz, accusations of diplomatic treason. Piotr Niemczyk: evidence is not difficult to find

General Jarosław Stróżyk, head of the Military Counterintelligence Service and chairman of the commission for investigating Russian and Belarusian influence, announced that the commission will submit an application to the prosecutor's office regarding the possibility of diplomatic treason committed by the former head of the Ministry of National Defence, Antoni Macierewicz.

This concerns, among other things, the withdrawal of the ministry then headed by Macierewicz from the program to acquire air tankers.

READ MORE: The report's four main conclusions, including 'diplomatic betrayal'

Piotr Niemczyk, a security expert and former director of the analysis and information office at the Office of State Protection, spoke about this case on Thursday on TVN24.

– These are tankers that we don't have, but we could have in Powidz. Poland, or rather Minister Macierewicz, without any clear reasons, without any sensible analysis, stated that it was unnecessary and all the work done so far was wasted. As I understand it, the commission has evidence that he did not have the right to make this type of decision alone – he said.

He admitted that “it doesn't surprise him at all.” – I know the accounts of my colleagues from the Military Counterintelligence Service who talked about the relations between the counterintelligence led by Macierewicz and the Western services. He behaved similarly. He declared things that had absolutely no reason to be brought to the table from the point of view of Polish interests, but actually harmed the Polish services, Niemczyk said.

In his opinion, “evidence of diplomatic betrayal (Macierewicz – ed.) is not difficult to find.”

At Wednesday's conference, Stróżyk also said that “the thesis that the president's entourage is hiding information about the activities” of Macierewicz is justified. This concerns the failure to provide the committee with documents.

When asked about the reasons for such action, Niemczyk replied: – It's easy to guess. Because Mr. President is not the president of all Poles, but a representative of a certain political camp.

– If this political camp is not comfortable with presenting certain documents, it will never consent to providing them – he explained.

In his opinion, “there are certainly materials that would indicate behavior that could be reprehensible from an ethical point of view, and perhaps punishable from a formal point of view.” – But as you can see, the political interest of a certain group is more important than the interest of the Polish state – added Niemczyk.

– I remember the moment in 1992 when the so-called Macierewicz list, i.e. members of parliament allegedly involved in working with the Security Service, was about to be revealed. The officers in the corridor asked if he was an agent or a madman, Niemczyk recalled.

– What's worse, such questions were asked by representatives of Western services with whom we were building relations at that time. Maybe they didn't literally ask whether he was an agent or a madman, but basically they were aiming at the same goal with the questions they asked us, he said.

He added that “perhaps the pressure of public opinion will make someone sit down and count all the events generated by Antoni Macierewicz, which, summa summarum, harmed Polish security.”