Janusz Palikot arrested. Discussion in “Kawa na ława” on TVN24

Today's guest of “Fakty po Faktach” will be the Minister of Justice, Attorney General Adam Bodnar.

Janusz Palikot (agrees to the publication of image and data), Przemysław B. and Zbigniew B. they were detained on Thursday by the CBA in Lublin and Biłgoraj. On the same day, they were taken to the department of the National Prosecutor's Office in Wrocław, where they were charged with fraud. Their interrogations began on Thursday evening and ended on Friday late afternoon. Palikot was charged with eight charges, including seven of fraud and one of misappropriating property. His colleagues Przemysław B. and Zbigniew B. were also charged with fraud. The prosecutor's office applied preventive measures against them.

The case was commented on in “Kawa na ława” by Aleksandra Leo (Poland 2050), Bartosz Arłukowicz (KO), Marcin Horała (PIS), Michał Wawer (Confederation), Stanisław Żaryn (Chancellery of the President) and Andrzej Szejna (Left, deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Bartosz Arłukowicz (KO) admitted that he had known Janusz Palikot for many years. – I have the impression that there was a period when we were friends and exchanged different views, plans and strategies. He is a man of extraordinary culture and knowledge, very familiar with the world, who likes to talk about the poetry of (Bolesław) Leśmian. Then I lost sight of him, I didn't see him for many years. We haven't had any contact with each other in recent years, but I saw and observed how he was heading in a slightly, in my opinion, strange direction – said Arłukowicz.

– These alcohol companies and money lending were completely unclear to me. In recent months, I have been looking at him in a bit of a cabaret way, because I was watching him cut this tomato and sprinkle it with this lemon. It was all on social media, he added.

Andrzej Szejna (deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Left) said that he could not “confirm or deny the intellectual and personal values” of Palikot because he had only talked to him once.

– Let me be honest: I think this is proof that the Polish prosecutor's office is working, admitted Szejna. When asked whether the politicians made a mistake when they did not draw consequences for the accusations against Palikot earlier, Szejna replied: “it seems to me that all allegations, all doubts, should be clarified.”

Michał Wawer (Confederation) said that he was surprised by the “romanticization of the figure of Janusz Palikot by representatives of the ruling coalition.” – That he was a philosopher, that he was a cook, that he was a man who enjoyed media attention. Why did he enjoy media attention? Because his political activity, which I remember from my student days, (…) was simply gutter – said the Confederation politician.

– He was a man who was probably the first in the history of Polish parliamentarism to throw vulgarities from the podium. This was the man who got from Donald Tusk for several years, the green light for one-man, single-handedly lowering the level of Polish politics. It is no surprise that such a man now has problems with the law after leaving politics, he added.

Stanisław Żaryn, who now works in the Chancellery of the President, and in 2016-2023 was an associate of the Minister Coordinator of Special Services Mariusz Kamińskisaid that “if there were signals that a financial pyramid was being built, the prosecutor's office should definitely get involved.” – I have no information whether the services were tracking Mr. Palikot's businesses – admitted Żaryn.

– The investigation should show whether any information about this fraud was downplayed or remained on paper – he added. When asked “where were the services when Palikot borrowed more money”, Żaryn replied: “I cannot answer at the moment.” – This is an issue that should be investigated in the investigation. I hope that if there are any such doubts about previous years, they will also be clarified, he said.

– If this is true, because I did not have the opportunity to meet Mr. Palikot personally, that he was a person with such broad horizons and intelligence, it speaks even worse about him, because it means that what he did, he did consciously, and his political career built on doing things that decent people did not do – said Marcin Horała (PiS).

To the comment that during the years when PiS was in power, the services' activities in this matter were not intensified, Horała replied with a smile: “I simply do not believe in the conspiracy established within Law and Justice to cover up Janusz Palikot's evil deeds.”

Aleksandra Leo from Poland 2050 commented on the allegations made by one of Palikot's defenders, attorney Jacek Dubois, who talked about violation of attorney-client privilege and defense secret. – The question is whether the correspondence we are talking about took place at a time when Mr. Dubois was already Mr. Palikot's defense attorney. (…) These are issues that need to be clarified, I haven't seen these protocols, I don't know what is in them, but of course it needs to be clarified, she said.

She added that “the allegations are very serious, because we are talking about several thousand victims and over PLN 70 million, so we will all be closely watching the actions of the prosecutor's office.”