Audit at RCL and institutes. “We demanded the return of PLN 63 million 800 thousand”

On Thursday, the spokeswoman of the Prosecutor General, prosecutor Anna Adamiak, informed about the referral by the head of the Ministry of Justice Adam Bodnar requests to waive the immunities of Members of Parliament: Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski (Republicans), former president of RCL Krzysztof Szczucki (PIS) and the former head of Orlen, MEP Daniel Obajtek (PiS).

Grabiec said during Friday's press conference that the basis for notifying the prosecutor's office about the suspicion of committing a crime by Szczucki was an extensive audit carried out at RCL, which showed the expenditure of PLN 1,300,000. PLN from the state budget “largely” for the election campaign of Szczucki, who was a candidate in the Bydgoszcz district in 2023.

The head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister announced that after Szczucki took over as president, a new unit had appeared in the RCL, which was theoretically supposed to deal with systemic law and legislation, but in practice – said Grabiec – it was created only to promote Szczucki in the elections. He added that six people were employed in this unit. He pointed out that these people did not perform their duties at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister at all or logged into the system 10 times a year, and in fact they performed duties related to the promotion of Szczucki in his constituency.

Grabiec said that over a dozen or so months, employees of this unit earned nearly PLN 900,000. zloty. As he added, 400 thousand PLN are expenses related to organizing Szczucki's stay in his district. – PLN 200,000 from RCL funds was spent on renting hotels, premises, restaurant services, and organizing meetings with voters – he said. He added that 120 thousand the cost of advertising gadgets distributed during events promoting Szczucki.

Grabiec also said that audit materials were also forwarded to NEC and were one of many materials used to assess the PiS financial report from the election campaign, which was rejected.

The head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister assessed that the fact that the prosecutor's office is requesting the deprivation of Szczucki's immunity is proof that the weight of the evidence is serious.

Referring to Obajtek's case, Grabiec said that, according to the prosecutor's office, Orlen concluded two contracts for detective services during his presidency. Reports from the detective company show that these services were used to collect information about politicians of the then opposition. Grabiec explained that he, as well as Marcin Kierwiński and Robert Kropiwnicki, were under surveillance for Orlen's money. This included, among others: by following politicians and taking photos in private situations.

– At that time, there were also burglaries into the premises of non-governmental organizations. We suspect that it was related to the activities of this financial group by Orlen, through its president, Daniel Obajtek. The idea was to find any materials that would allow discrediting the MPs, he added. – This is very sad, because it proves how low the quality of the political class has fallen and the lengths to which the people who were in power at that time were willing to go to maintain that power – concluded Grabiec.

The head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister estimated that there are hundreds of notifications from the state administration and state-owned companies and he is pleased that the prosecutor's office systematically collects documentation and clarifies these matters.

When asked about the Ardanowski case, Grabiec replied that he did not know the detailed scope of the charges against him.

Proc. Anna Adamiak said on Thursday that the prosecutor's office suspects Ardanowski of committing two crimes: failure to fulfill his obligations as the then Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and exceeding his powers in order to obtain a financial advantage. According to information from the prosecutor's office, MP Ardanowski, as part of his supervision over the National Center for Agricultural Support (KOWR), failed to fulfill his duties by ordering – in the case of the ESA company – and consenting – in the case of the SMB cooperative – to grant bank guarantees by KOWR for both of these entities. – Due to the situation they were in, they should not receive such a guarantee – said Adamiak.

The spokeswoman added that the company and the cooperative did not repay the financial loans finally granted on the basis of bank guarantees granted to them. This in turn triggered the warranty. “As a result, damage was caused on behalf of the State Treasury,” she added. In the case of ESA, the damage amounted to PLN 100 million, and in the case of the SMB cooperative – PLN 20 million.

Grabiec also announced that subsidies granted by the former prime minister were subject to control Mateusz Morawiecki (PIS). – So far, at least six notifications have been sent to the prosecutor's office, the rest are being processed – he said. He added that they concern PLN 48 million of funds embezzled or spent illegally.

– At the same time, we demanded the return of as much as PLN 63 million 800 thousand by institutions and entities that were allocated public funds by Prime Minister Morawiecki and received these subsidies illegally or spent them contrary to Polish law – said the head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.

An example is – as Grabiec said – the Action Life foundation, associated with the “Visegrad 24” social media account. The account is supposed to publish “anti-European, anti-Ukrainian fakes promoting (Hungarian Prime Minister – ed.) Viktor Orban on social networks.”

– Prime Minister Morawiecki once allocated PLN 2.5 million for the operation of the Action Life foundation's media center. We issued a decision to return this amount and submitted an application to the prosecutor's office in this matter, because these funds were spent contrary to Polish law, said Grabiec.

The head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister also announced that as a result of audits and control of public expenditure during the PiS government, two institutes, the De Republica Institute and the Pokolenia Institute, were closed down due to suspicions of breaking the law and siphoning off public funds by these institutes.

– In the case of the De Republica Institute, five applications were submitted to the prosecutor's office, including those regarding the payment of undue money to the director of this institute, Andrzej Przyłębski. In the case of the Generation Institute, seven applications were submitted to the prosecutor's office regarding financial issues, but also, for example, conscious destruction of data on computers, after supervision of the institutes was taken over by a liquidator appointed by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Grabiec said.

Notifications to the prosecutor's office also concern funds allocated to non-governmental organizations by the National Freedom Institute.

– So far, notifications to the prosecutor's office have been submitted in ten areas, regarding tens of millions of zlotys of illegally spent funds – said the head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.

Answering journalists' questions, Grabiec announced that the Chancellery of the Prime Minister is preparing new regulations specifying the rules under which journalists are present in the Prime Minister's office for security reasons. – Soon these regulations will be made public and they will cover everyone and apply to everyone equally – he assured.