Tomasz Poręba – luxury apartments in Croatia. Doubts surrounding the politician’s asset declarations

The Croatian islands tempt with their beauty, but if you wanted to own an apartment there, it would be very expensive. However, as it turns out, this is not too expensive for everyone. As reported by the OKO.press website, on the Croatian island of Korcula, Tomasz Poręba, a leading MEP from Law and Justice, has been investing in luxury real estate for years.

Investigative journalists, in cooperation with reporters from the Croatian portal Oštro, analyzed what, where and for what the politician bought. – It is still impossible to read from the property declarations where they got the money for the first and second apartment, including the PLN 1.5 million loan – says OKO.press journalist Daniel Flis.

Tomasz Poręba – until recently the head of the electoral staff PISremoved from his position a few months ago – he was supposed to start his adventure with real estate investments in Korcula Hill in Dalmatia in August 2015 and, as reported by OKO.press, he and his wife paid EUR 230,000 for the apartment.

In his asset declaration for 2015, he showed that the property cost EUR 150,000. Interestingly, after two years the price of the property was supposed to drop by EUR 10,000, and after another year it would go back to EUR 120,000 – such a situation on the real estate market actually does not happen, especially on the Adriatic – as brokers trading in the Adriatic say. Croatia. – Even the recent Covid did not cause prices to drop. On the contrary, they were increasing, notes Dawid Szymura from Grupa Polskie Nieruchomości.

In MEP Poręba’s home camp, the question about discrepancies in the real estate trade, reported by OKO.press, arouses an attack on the journalists who ask.

– TVN doesn’t come here, this is Poland. He deals with himself, his phobias, hatred, aggression, hate. Stop dealing with hatred, look at Poles, smiling and joyful – this is how Deputy Minister of Justice Marcin Warchoł answers questions about real estate during his visit to Podkarpacie.

Among the opposition, the MEP’s operations on the Croatian real estate market raise great doubts. – They are trying to hide it because they know perfectly well that the time of reckoning is coming – he announces Barbara Nowacka from the Civic Coalition. – We will not let this be hidden, we will really settle it – he assures.

Doubts are also raised by the fact that in 2015, when the MEP bought the apartment, he earned in the European Parliament, according to his statement, just over PLN 130,500. euro. He had savings of PLN 97,000. This means that if he spent it only on real estate – not to mention supporting himself and his family abroad – he would still be short of EUR 2,500.

Tomasz Poręba’s wife, as reported by OKO.press, was supposed to be employed at that time for just over a year as an assistant in the office of an Italian MEP, but according to journalists, her salary would not be enough to compensate for the discrepancies.

– Mr. Poręba has everything entered in his asset declaration, so now you are making a scandal that does not really exist – says Kacper Płażyński from PiS.

– It does not appear from these statements that the MEP had sufficient assets to purchase these properties – emphasizes Krzysztof Izdebski from the Batory Foundation.

The thing is that, according to documents obtained by the OKO.press portal, the Porębas sold the apartment in 2021 – not for the PLN 120,000 shown in the asset declaration, not even for the initial price of EUR 230,000, but for EUR 370,000.

This is not the only property, because a year after the first purchase, the MEP and his wife founded a company – they bought two more apartments. Politicians do not have to confess company assets, only shares, but loans. And according to the findings of Polish and Croatian journalists, by 2022 the Porębas have loaned their company EUR 427,000. There is no trace of this in the asset declarations either. Although MEPs are obliged to report assets accumulated together with their spouse.

– Apart from the theses put forward in the media, I have not come across any evidence that we are dealing with any irregularities – says Marcin Horała from PiS.

On the other hand Borys Budka from the Civic Coalition claims that “if we were dealing with a normally functioning state, and not Kaczyński’s farm, Mr. Poręba’s statement would have been dealt with a long time ago CBA and the prosecutor’s office.

The MEP replied to reporters from OKO.press and the Croatian portal Oštro: “The questions are insinuating and have no confirmation in reality. They are deceitful, slanderous, and are simply offensive to me. I consider them politically motivated, because it is clear who your circle represents. All “The actions I took were transparent.”