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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

President of NIK Marian Banaś before the Commission for the Pegasus inquiry: we were refused access to documents

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The president of the Supreme Audit Office Marian Banaś appeared on Friday before the Sejm Remand Commission for Pegasus. He said that PLN 33.4 million was spent on the purchase of the system, of which PLN 25 million from the justice fund. He spoke, among others, about the supervision control over the activities of special services. He said that during it the controllers encountered difficulties in performing activities. According to Banas, they were refused to provide information, despite having the relevant documents.

The parliamentary commission for Pegasus gathered on Friday at noon to interrogate the head of the Supreme Audit Office. Marian Banaś At the beginning of the meeting, he exercised the right of free expression. He said that by appearing before the commission, he wanted to “set an example to other persons called by the Commission, that all citizens, especially those who perform or performed public functions, are equal to the law and are obliged to comply with the constitution of the Republic of Poland.”

“It all happened in the Ministry of Justice”

Banaś said in a free statement that he had long said that the scandal related to the Pegasus system is a serious threat to democracy and requires a detailed explanation, because it concerns the suspicion of illegal surveillance of Polish politicians and citizens.

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– That is why I had no doubt that in January 2022, in response to applications for public information addressed to the Supreme Audit Office, disclose documents secured in the course of the control proceedings of the Justice Fund, covering the years 2016 and 2017 – said the head of the Supreme Audit Office.

According to him, they show, among others, that the then deputy minister of justice Michał Woś claimed that the funds transferred to CBA They were of a targeted subsidy, and the director of the Department responsible for the Fund Mikołaj Pawlak sublied to him four days later denied that these funds were of a targeted subsidy. “It all happened in the Ministry of Justice,” Banaś added.

The head of the Supreme Audit Office assessed that he was convinced that if it wasn't for his determination, these documents would probably not be made available to the public.

Marian Banaś ahead of the Commission for the Pegasus inquiryTvn24

Banaś: PLN 33.4 million was spent on the purchase of the Pegasus system together

Banaś also reported that PLN 33.4 million was spent on the purchase of the Pegasus system, of which from the justice fund – PLN 25 million, and from CBA funds PLN 8.4 million.

– ahead of the questions related to the argument repeatedly raised by the former deputy head of the Ministry of Justice Michał Wosia, who indicated that in the Chamber a legal opinion was developed allowing the possibility of financing the CBA from the funds of the Justice Fund, of course the dissemination of such a position is a simple manipulation and abuse on the part of the former deputy minister of justice Banaś said.

Banaś: Morawiecki, Kamiński deprived of knowledge in practice

During a free statement, the President of the Supreme Audit Office also drew attention to the problem of supervision and control over the functioning of special services in Poland. Reminded that Supreme Audit Office In November 2023 she ended ad hoc control entitled: “Implementation of tasks related to coordination, supervision and control of the functioning of special services conducting operational and reconnaissance activities in the Republic of Poland.” As he said, “the study covered the period from January 1, 2017, and the control activities ended on March 31, 2023”.

– In my opinion, the results of this control shed additional light on the issue of purchasing the Pegasus system and possible abuse related to its use – he said.

Banaś said that the inspection showed that “the coordination supervision system in Poland and the control of the activities of special services is ineffective and does not meet the standards in force in democratic states of law.” – This condition is the result of not only defective organizational and legal solutions, but also of gross neglect on the part of entities established to supervise the functioning of special services – he added.

The head of the Supreme Audit Office said that “in the course of the inspection it was established that persons responsible for the supervision and coordination of the activities of special services, in particular the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, minister coordinator of special services Mariusz Kamiński and members of the College for Special Services, unreliablely carried out the tasks entrusted to them.” – These people, because of their own neglect, lasting throughout the examined period of neglect, deprived in practice of knowledge about the functioning of special services and the possibility of ongoing response to possible irregularities identified in their actions – said the president of the Supreme Audit Office.

Banaś: The controllers encountered difficulties

Banaś also said that “in the entire duration of the inspection, the authorized employees of the Supreme Audit Office encountered numerous actions to thwart the performance of official activities.”

– It was refused to provide them with planning and reporting documents of the services and protocols from the meetings of the College for Special Services under the guise of containing operational and reconnaissance information – he explained.

Banaś assured that all controllers had documents issued by the Internal Security Agency authorizing them to access classified information about the highest clauses. – The head of the Internal Security Agency – citing the need to protect classified information – prevented the controllers from even accessing a series of data contained in open documents – added the president of the Supreme Audit Office.

After completing the action, the Supreme Audit Office sent six notifications about the possibility of committing a crime to hindered control. – On January 9, 2025, we received a decision to discontinue the CBA proceedings by the prosecutor's office. We brought a complaint to this decision and we are waiting for his decision – he said.

Banaś: I suspect Morawiecki knew about Pegasus

Later in the meeting, the head of the commission Magdalena Sroka (PSL-TD) asked Banasia why the PEGASUS system from the CBA Operational Fund was not purchased. “I suspect that they wanted to hide this fact, because it is much easier to recognize expenses directly from the budget than from the Justice Fund,” he said.

It was also asked if in his opinion the then prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki He knew that the services were purchasing such a system. “I suspect that as a prime minister he certainly knew about such information, because this type of actions should be conveyed to him,” he said. – It is difficult to say whether he was informed one hundred percent, but his duty was to take such information, because he supervised the services – he added.

The commission is to listen to the Director of the Department of Internal Order and Internal Security of the Supreme Audit Office of Tomasz Sordyl that day.

Source of the main photo: Tvn24



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