They were bodyguards of the PiS president, Jarosław Kaczyński, and although they did not work for the Military Police, they were employed there. The deputy minister of national defense talks about the scandal and reveals the results of another audit. As it turns out, the Military Police was in the service of another PiS politician – Antoni Macierewicz.
Jarosław Kaczyński's private security from Grom Group has been accompanying the president of Law and Justice since 2010. The party pays for her services – almost PLN 2 million a year. However, this is not the only source of income for Kaczyński's bodyguards. The audit conducted at the Ministry of National Defense shows that two employees of Grom Group had positions as instructors in the Military Police.
– They did not do their job, because if someone is employed in the Gendarmerie and should work 1,500 hours, and he works 70, and at the same time protects Jarosław Kaczyński, we are dealing here with a very serious violation of labor regulations, and we will draw consequences – reports Cezary Tomczyk, deputy minister of national defense from PO.
Men no longer work for the army. The case is to be handled by the prosecutor's office.
READ MORE: They were employed in the Military Police. Tomczyk: at that time they were protecting Kaczyński
Former Minister of National Defense Antoni Macierewicz, when asked about the Ministry of National Defense's reports, replies that he has no knowledge about it. – I don't know what you're talking about at all. I have no knowledge about this question and I have the impression that it is simply one of TVN's many fictions – he says.
In turn, Mariusz Błaszczak, also a former Minister of National Defense in the United Right government, claims that the security guards – and at the same time former GROM soldiers – were employed in the Gendarmerie already in 2009.
However, their services were not abandoned when they took up private security. – I can't imagine that it was about anything else than money, in this case for these gentlemen, i.e. increasing the salary they had in the security company – argues Gen. Marian Janicki, former head of the Government Protection Bureau.
Tusk: Minister Macierewicz is a serious threat to public order TVN24
Antoni Macierewicz changed the head of the Gendarmerie and “service and care activities” began
The Military Police and PiS politicians have had exceptionally close relations since Antoni Macierewicz became Minister of National Defense. They began in December 2015 with a night incursion into the NATO Counterintelligence Center of Expertise in Warsaw. The then Chief Commander of the Military Police, General Piotr Nidecki, refused to allow the head of the Ministry of National Defense to allow his subordinates to participate in this incident.
– Minister Macierewicz quickly dismissed him. Anyway, according to the customs prevailing at that time: via SMS. General Tomasz Połuch then became the head of the Military Police, and it was from that moment that such service and care activities began – says Onet journalist Marcin Wywał.
The Military Police pool in Warsaw was opened especially for Macierewicz in the middle of the night. – The head of the Gendarmerie, a very important figure, with the rank of general, used to fly around and late at night open the door to a guy who wanted to jump into the pool – Wywał points out.
The gendarmerie protected and transported Macierewicz. Often on the signal and at high speed. In January 2017, cars from the minister's motorcade caused a serious accident near Lubicz Dolny. Macierewicz also used the services of the Gendarmerie when he ceased to be a minister and became the head of the subcommittee investigating the causes of the Smolensk disaster. He lost his privileges only after the change of government.
Main photo source: TVN24