“Gazeta Wyborcza” wrote that during the European Parliament campaign, the PiS staff hung Ryszard Carnecki's election banners “anywhere they could” in Greater Poland, often without the required consent. The daily reported that, in connection with this, the District Roads Authority in Ostrów Wielkopolski demanded almost one hundred thousand zlotys in fines, and with the help of the bailiff, this money was collected from Jarosław Kaczyński's party.
The daily writes that during the election campaign, the staff PIS he hung banners Ryszard Czarneckiin which he shakes President Kaczyński's hand “wherever he can, often without consent.”
However, in Greater Poland, where Czarnecki started, only one local government, the Ostrów poviat, decided to punish the PiS politician, and that was after the intervention of the local councilor, Małgorzata Urbaniak from the Civic Coalition.
Ryszard CzarneckiAndrzej Lange/PAP
“The first such case in the country after the last elections”
“PZD submitted an application to impose and enforce administrative penalties from the Law and Justice election committee. The committee appealed to the Local Government Appeals Court. However, it rejected the appeal, but PiS did not pay the penalty – a total of PLN 93,000. After blocking the account and collecting half of the debt, , PiS decided to voluntarily pay the other half,” GW reported.
“As I hear, this is the first such case in the country after the last elections to the European Parliament. It was a fight against time, because under the law, electoral committees close 60 days after submitting the report,” says Mągorzata Urbaniak in an interview with “Wyborcza”.
The local councilor points out that the procedural problem was the transfer of responsibility from the election committee to the party. “However, the election committee is created by the party and the party must have funds allocated in its budget to pay fines for irregularities caused by candidates,” he points out. “Payment of the fine has become due, although the judgment is not final. PiS announces an appeal to the Provincial Administrative Court (Provincial Administrative Court – ed.)” – notes “Wyborcza”.
The money is to go towards detecting melanoma
Councilors of the ruling Civic Coalition in the district initially wanted to allocate the money for road renovations, but eventually decided that the funds would go to early detection of melanoma.
Ryszard Czarnecki did not get into the European Parliament in June. He has served there continuously since 2004, for four terms.
“He should settle it. I think he can afford it.”
Sławomir Lasiecki, the leader of PiS municipal structures in Kalisz, quoted by “GW”, announced that the party would demand from Czarnecki a refund of the money taken from the committee's account by the bailiff. “If Mr Czarnecki has fines to pay now, he should settle it. I think he can afford it,” says Lasiecki.
Main photo source: Andrzej Lange/PAP