General Jarosław Stróżyk, chairman of the commission for investigating Russian and Belarusian influence, sent a notification to the National Prosecutor's Office about a justified suspicion of committing a crime of failure to fulfill official duties by the former head of the Internal Security Agency, Piotr Pogonowski. He said that this concerns the liquidation of 10 out of 15 ABW field offices in 2017. This decision, as indicated by the committee, had a negative impact on the Agency's ability to carry out its statutory tasks.
According to General Jarosław Stróżyk, the decision to liquidate the ABW delegations resulted in a “real loss of the capabilities of the Polish state.” As he emphasized, the change was intended to reduce the capacity of the entire agency “between 24 and 50 percent.”
At the conference, he recalled that “the liquidation of delegations took place in 2017 by the decision of the then Prime Minister Beata Szydło.” – Prime Minister Szydło signed the new statute of the agency abolishing these delegations in August 2017, and in the Sejm, in the relevant committees, work on this regulation and statute was still ongoing in September, so it is difficult to comment on it in any reliable way – he admitted.
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In March 2024, the Prime Minister Donald Tusk signed an ordinance that restored the functioning of the closed branch offices from July last year.
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Commission for investigating Russian and Belarusian influence on the effects of the authorities' decisions PIS it announced the liquidation of the branch offices for the first time at the time of publication a report that assessed that the United Right's counteraction to Russian and Belarusian disinformation was “insufficient”.
“It is impossible to make a reliable analysis for a month and 10 days”
General Stróżyk expressed hope that the prosecutor's office “in the following days and weeks” will take “appropriate steps” in connection with yesterday's notification about a possible crime committed by the former head of the Internal Security Agency, Piotr Pogonowski.
The head of the committee was also asked about the statement of Piotr Pogonowski, who explained that the decision to liquidate the delegations was made on the basis of an analysis. – I have not seen Mr. Pogonowski's statement. Let me just say that if there were analyses, they were done in record time. The whole process finally started on June 29, and on August 9, the Prime Minister signed the new statute of the agency. It is impossible to conduct a reliable analysis in a month and 10 days, he said.
– I think that a thorough check by the prosecutor's office will negate such statements – he added.
Stróżyk pointed out that the commission's report is public and is available on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
Main photo source: Rafał Guz / PAP