Donald Tusk said he had emails that people employed by the former head of the Government Legislative Centre wanted to delete from computers. According to the prime minister, they did not perform any work for government legislation, but were only involved in Krzysztof Szczucki's election campaign for the Sejm. Tusk said that the employees forgot that the system copied their “exchange of information, consisting of: buy a half for this guy who hangs a banner for our candidate.”
Prime minister Donald Tusk At Friday's conference, he spoke about the government's actions aimed at holding the previous government accountable and referred to the actions of Law and Justice in the context of the election campaign before the parliamentary elections.
According to him, “the most striking procedure, when it comes to using office for the election campaign, is what happened under the noses of Prime Minister (Mateusz) Morawiecki and Minister (Krzysztof) Szczucki”. – Actually, not under the noses of Minister Szczucki, but for the benefit of Minister Szczucki – he specified.
– Being the head of the Government Legislation Centre, (Szczucki – ed.) he employed six people who did not perform any work. They were involved in his election campaign – said Tusk.
Tusk on emails from backups. “Buy half for this guy”
– I don't want to shock you with sensations here, but it so happened that people working for Minister Szczucki, who pretended to be officials working for government legislation, did indeed delete e-mails and information exchanges between themselves on computers, but they forgot that in these computers, as in the entire Chancellery of the Prime Minister and in ministries, there are so-called backups. That is, they forgot that the system copied their materials and they are at our disposal – the Prime Minister continued.
As he pointed out, “these are dozens of emails from officials who were theoretically responsible for government legislation.”
“I would actually be ashamed if I were to read an exchange of information between government officials, an exchange of information that consisted of: buy a half for this guy who is hanging up a banner for our candidate,” he said.
He argued that there are “dozens and hundreds of such pieces of information”. – I am not talking about the fact that these records inform about breaking the law, because this type of campaigning is of course illegal. That is, buying such services from private individuals, such as consent to hang a banner. Not to mention the fact that alcohol is often used as a means of payment in this information. And at the head of this undertaking is a minister of the Polish government, who is responsible for the Government Legislation Centre – he emphasized.
The Prime Minister informed that “all this information is at the disposal of the prosecutor's office”.
Szczucki's case concerning the employment of employees at RCL
Tusk informed about Szczucki's employment of additional employees in May of this year. At a press conference on May 21, he said that the former head of the Government Legislation Centre, Krzysztof Szczucki, had employed from early summer to winter of last year six employees who did not perform any work. – Neither in RCL nor in any subordinate institution. They did not even log in to computers – said the head of government then.
As he pointed out, these six employees organized Szczucki's election campaign. – During these few months, they were paid 900 thousand złoty – he said, adding that a motion in this case was filed with the prosecutor's office.
– In a few months, 900 thousand for the campaign, plus an additional 120 thousand for election gadgets and events (…). There was an advertising campaign and various events that promoted the legislation, that's what it was called. All of them took place in Mr. Szczucki's electoral district – added the prime minister.
Szczucki denied Tusk's words and announced that he would file a complaint with the prosecutor's office. “I do not agree to defaming me and making false accusations against me,” he wrote on social media.
At the end of June, however, as confirmed by the head of the Prime Minister's office, Jan Grabiec – The CBA entered “the seat of the Government Legislation Centreto secure evidence of an alleged crime committed by the former RCL management”. He explained that the crime was to consist of “spending public funds on the election campaign and political activities of MP Krzysztof Szczucki, who was then the president of the Government Legislation Centre”.
Krzysztof Szczucki was the head of the Government Legislation Centre during the PiS government, from September 2020 to November 2023. He is currently PiS MPhe also ran in the elections to the European Parliament.
Main image source: PAP/Marcin Obara