Father Tadeusz Rydzyk. The Lux Veritatis Foundation and the Academy of Social and Media Culture in Toruń receive money from the government – ministry on contracts

Interpellations were addressed to individual ministries by Hanna Gill-Piątek from Poland 2050. “There are doubts about the implementation of the main principles of public finance – expediency and savings, as well as the principle of state and church autonomy in the light of the Concordat concluded between the Holy See and the Republic of Poland on July 28, 1993. ” the MP wrote.

Therefore, she asked whether the ministries concluded civil law agreements in 2021 and 2022, e.g. with the Lux Veritatis Foundation, whose president is her father Tadeusz Rydzyk.

The answer was given by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Piotr Wawrzyk. As he informed Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April 2021, concluded a grant agreement for the University of Social and Media Culture in Toruń, currently the Academy of Social and Media Culture in Toruń – Academy of Applied Sciences, which belongs to the Lux Veritatis Foundation. The subject of the contract was the implementation of the project called “Regional Center for International Debate 2019 – 2021 in Toruń”.

The subsidy amounted to PLN 217,600.00. “The project was implemented as part of a grant received in the competition of the Minister of Foreign Affairs entitled ‘Regional Center for International Debate 2019-2021′” – said Wawrzyk.

This is not the only money that flowed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the academy belonging to the foundation headed by Father Tadeusz Rydzyk. A year later, in April 2022, a subsidy agreement was concluded under which a project called “Regional Center for International Debate 2022-2024 in Toruń” was to be implemented. As the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs explained, the information and educational initiatives were to lead, among others, to to strengthen “cooperation channels between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, universities, local government and non-governmental organizations in the region” or “to expand the discussion and knowledge in local communities about international processes and events that are important from the point of view of the Polish raison d’état”.

The amount of the subsidy was similar to the previous one, amounting to PLN 212,560.00. The project was completed at the end of last year.

Moreover, at the end of May last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded an agreement with the Lux Veritatis Foundation for the amount of PLN 95,250.00. The information provided by Piotr Wawrzyk shows that the subject of the contract was the implementation of a public task under the name “Three Generals”, consisting in the production of three medium-length documentaries under the common title “Three Generals”.

As he informed, the project was implemented as part of a grant received in the competition of the Minister of Foreign Affairs under the name “Public Diplomacy 2022”.

“The aim of the production of the films was to show the heroic attitudes of Polish generals, restore their memory and celebrate their 130th birthday. The history of the military activities of generals Stanisław Maczek, Stanisław Sosabowski and Władysław Anders is a real service to bring freedom. During World War II, acting against a common enemy and acting for the European cause changed the fate of the war and helped to liberate Europe from German oppression,” the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out.

Ministry of Family and Social Policy in 2021, concluded two agreements with the Lux Veritatis Foundation for the purchase of airtime on TV “Trwam” for the implementation of information and education campaigns: the fourteenth pension, tax-free pension and Family Care Capital. “For the implementation of the above contracts, payments in the amount of PLN 299,412.75 were made” – said Stanisław Szwed, deputy head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, in response to an interpellation.

He added that in 2022, one contract was signed with the Lux Veritatis Foundation for the purchase of airtime on TV “Trwam” for the implementation of an information and education campaign on the fourteenth pension. The agreement was concluded for the amount of PLN 79,950.00, with the completion date of September 1-12, 2022.

It also concluded an agreement with the Lux Veritatis Foundation Ministry of Finance. The deputy head of this ministry, Piotr Patkowski, informed in response to the interpellation that “under part 19 – Budget, public finances and financial institutions in the period from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022, from among the institutions indicated in the interpellation, the Ministry of Finance concluded on November 4, 2021, a civil law contract with the Lux Veritatis Foundation”.

“The subject of the agreement was the campaign by Telewizja Etapm for the Ministry of Finance consisting in the broadcasting of information spots of the campaign regarding changes in tax law addressed to the broadly understood public, in the period from November 4, 2021 to December 12, 2021.” – we read.

Patkowski reported that the contract was payable and was concluded for the total amount of PLN 299,000.70. “The contract was concluded outside the Public Procurement Law” – added the deputy finance minister.

Ministry of National Defence So far, although it has not responded to the Gill-Piątek interpellation, it has provided details in response to the senator’s intervention directed by Krzysztof Brejza from the Civic Coalition. A representative of the ministry informed that “in 2022, the Ministry of National Defense concluded an agreement with the Lux Veritatis Foundation for the broadcast on TV of 40 episodes of the program “Become a soldier of the Republic of Poland”, promoting service in the Polish Army.

“The purpose of the program was to encourage candidates to join the ranks of the Polish Army. The cost of one episode was PLN 18,000, which is not an excessive amount in TV reality,” reads Brejza’s reply, which Senator KO shared on Twitter. Therefore, it is the total amount. Onet was the first to write about the agreement between the Ministry of National Defense and the Lux Veritatis Foundation.

In turn, two civil law contracts with the Lux Veritatis Foundation in 2021 and 2022 were concluded Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy.

“The subject of the agreements was the broadcast of a spot for the campaign informing about the completion of negotiations on the EU budget for 2021-2027, carried out in the period from January 26 to February 10, 2021, worth PLN 29,643.00, and the purchase of airtime devoted to the European Funds on TV In progress, implemented in the period from November 23, 2021 to March 15, 2022, with a value of PLN 249,990.00 (the value of the payment made is PLN 79,950.00) – informed Deputy Minister Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak.

It also concluded two agreements with the Lux Veritatis Foundation Ministry of Climate and Environment. The subject of the agreement of September 2022 was the purchase of airtime for the purpose of broadcasting one TV spot of 30 seconds between September 16 and September 30, 2022. The gross value of the contract was PLN 47,109.00.

The second contract was concluded in November last year. Climate Minister Anna Moscow informed that the subject of the transaction was “the purchase of airtime for the purpose of broadcasting 2 TV spots of 30 seconds and 15 seconds, in accordance with the media plan in the number of 54 broadcasts”. The value of the second contract was more than twice as high as the first one – PLN 104,171.78 gross.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin informed that the MAP “in 2021 and 2022 did not conclude any civil law contracts and did not transfer any funds under grants, subsidies and other monetary and non-monetary property benefits” with the entities mentioned in the interpellation.

It was similar in the case of the Ministry of Development and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Infrastructure, as well as the Ministry of Sport and Tourism. The head of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Kamil Bortniczuk, informed that “the database of contractors of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism does not include the entities indicated in the interpellation”.

Agreements were also not concluded with the digitization department, which is part of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.

The Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage have not yet responded to the questions, Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Ministry of Justice. In turn, the Ministry of Health extended the deadline for responses.