Fortunately, we live in a country of law. If someone has stolen money, simply put, there are of course tools to recover it. If an institution has spent the funds in a manner that is not intended, and there are beneficiaries of these funds, then they too, if they have broken the law, can be claimed back – said Andrzej Domański, Minister of Finance, in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24. He referred to expenditure from public funds that raises doubts and requires investigation, estimated by the current government at PLN 100 billion.
On Friday, the heads of the Prime Minister's Chancellery Ministry of Interior and AdministrationMS and MF: Tomasz Siemoniak, Adam Bodnar and Andrzej Domanski signed an inter-ministerial agreement on coordinating the activities of the services subordinate to them. It is to concern securing and recovering State Treasury property issued illegally, to the detriment of the public interest.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk assessed at a press conference that under the PiS government, a “closed system” was created, i.e. a mechanism for using public funds, offices and employees in the election campaign to benefit the ruling party.
He said that National Revenue Administration (KAS) estimated expenditure from public funds that raise doubts and require investigation at PLN 100 billion. The head of government added that there are currently over 60 notifications to the prosecutor's office in connection with these cases. – The amount of irregularities covered by these notifications, i.e. what is already documented and what we will recover, is over PLN 3.2 billion. This has already been described in great detail and we will effectively demand the return of these funds – announced the prime minister. He noted that “in the remaining scope” irregularities have already been precisely described at over PLN 5 billion.
Domański: these amounts are impressive
The Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański commented on the matter in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24. Asked if there was any chance of recovering some of the 100 billion, he replied that he “definitely counts on it”.
He emphasized that “we are talking about huge amounts”. – We at the Ministry of Finance, operating on the budget, are of course used to large amounts, but the amounts that appear within these activities are really impressive, because at the moment we are controlling expenditures worth PLN 100 billion. In view of expenditures worth PLN 5 billion, we are already convinced that we are dealing with irregularities – he said.
Domański: we would like the highest possible percentage of these funds to return to the budget
Domański said that there are tools to recover the money. – Fortunately, we live in a state of law. If someone has stolen money, to put it simply, then of course there are tools, such as the so-called recourse. If the institution has spent the funds in a manner inconsistent with their intended purpose, and there are beneficiaries of these funds, then also from the beneficiaries of these funds, if of course they have broken the law, one can demand a return – he explained.
– We will cooperate here with the Ministry of Justice, of course with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration and of course with the National Revenue Administration, as the body that has the tools to perform appropriate activities – he added.
The Minister was asked what promise he made to the Prime Minister regarding the amount he could recover from the PLN 100 billion.
– I would not like to judge at this time how much of these funds will go back to the budget. Of course, we would like the largest possible percentage of these funds that were spent illegally to be returned, because these are our common funds – he said.
Main image source: TVN24