– We have no doubt that Tomasz Szmydt is in the service of a foreign country – said Tomasz Siemoniak, coordinator of secret services, in “Kropka nad i” on TVN24. He added that it is untrue that the services had dealt with Szmydt before. – He is a traitor to the Republic of Poland. For this, he will undoubtedly suffer consequences, he will be sentenced by the court sooner or later, I have no doubt about that – he emphasized.
A meeting of the Special Services College was held on Wednesday. The topic of the talks was “alleged Russian and Belarusian influence in the Polish government apparatus in previous years.” – We will meet again on Friday, because the matter is serious and concerns not only the problem of Judge Szmydt and his escape to Belarus, but generally the influence and actions of the Russian and Belarusian intelligence services in our country – said Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Siemoniak: Szmydt is a traitor to the Republic of Poland
Tomasz Siemoniak, coordinator of special services, spoke more about Szmydt's case in “Kropka nad i” on TVN24. He said that “everything indicates” that Szmydt is a spy.
– The investigation undertaken by the prosecutor's office concerns Article 130 (of the Penal Code – ed.), i.e. espionage, cooperation with the service of a foreign country, because it has all the hallmarks of such action. We have no doubts, regardless of the previous events, that Mr. Szmydt is in the service of a foreign country, foreign services – he said.
He added that “all threads related to him have been intensively investigated since Monday, when he revealed himself in Minsk.” He explained that “all his belongings, all materials, all media he had at his disposal, the people he worked with” were being examined. – So these activities are ongoing and a certain picture will certainly emerge, an image that will also show what his motivations were – Siemoniak continued.
At the same time, Siemoniak said that it was untrue that the services had dealt with Szmydt earlier. – I absolutely deny this, the services were not involved. The services do not conduct surveillance of judges or prosecutors, so the services started doing so on Monday, he noted.
– In the face of such reports, which suggested that the services had been dealing with this person for some time, I came forward yesterday and wrote on the Internet that – firstly – they had not been involved, and secondly, that a year ago Szmydt was in Belarus and he had not noticed the slightest services under the PiS government at that time were not returned, he added.
Siemoniak said that Szmydt “is a traitor to the Republic of Poland.” – For this he will undoubtedly suffer consequences, sooner or later he will be sentenced by the court, I have no doubt about that – he emphasized.
Siemoniak: the sequence of events shows that it was a planned operation
Siemoniak also talked about the picture emerging from the actions Szmydt has taken in recent days.
– After all, he simply took a leave of absence from the court and, as you can see, he planned such an action or agreed it with his Belarusian principals, and it is clear from this sequence of events, from how quickly he gets to the Russian state television, (…) that he is it's a planned surgery. Today, it has primarily a propaganda dimension (Szmydt – ed.) and is used in propaganda – he said. He added that “in Poland it may be embarrassing and funny that someone talks about how terrible it is in Poland, how undemocratic a country Poland is, while in Russia, Belarus, in various countries that listen to the voice of Russia, this type of argument is probably “audible”.
– Certainly, the assessment of what he did, what he could have known, what he could have passed on to his Belarusian and Russian principals, will be the subject of analysis by the prosecutor's office and the court, and also the subject of the services' activities. We simply have to draw conclusions from this, he emphasized.
Siemoniak about Szmydt: there is no more important issue for the services todayTVN24
Siemoniak: the services are devastated and surprisingly toothless in the matters of people who were associated with PiS
In this context, Siemoniak was also asked about the condition of the Polish secret services. – They are devastated and surprisingly toothless in the cases of people who were associated with PiS – he admitted. He said that this weakening was the fault of the previous bosses who headed them, but also of those who supervised them during the previous government. He talked about “eight years of omission, non-investment.” – These are eight years of serving various people who should never have been heads of services in their lives – he said.
The coordinator of the secret services said that he was “shocked” that Szmydt, as a judge, dealt with classified matters. – The disciplinary proceedings against him that took place there two years ago should have resulted in him being removed from these matters. And he didn't stay. And someone is responsible for this and this will also be the subject of an investigation, he said. He added that it was too early to say whether Szmydt acted alone. He assured that “there is no more important case today for the Internal Security Agency, for the services, than this case” and every aspect of it will be “absolutely scrutinized.”
Siemoniak: Russian and Belarusian influences are visible to the naked eye
Siemoniak was also asked whether it is true that the Prime Minister wants the commission to investigate Russian influence, which was established during the PiS government, to be reactivated.
– Absolutely yes. We talked about this today too. So on Friday (it will be – editor) there will be a continuation of the College for Secret Services. We must remove unconstitutional provisions from the previous variant, which was adopted as a law. And we want to resume operations, because Russian and Belarusian influence is visible to the naked eye. And this commission is needed, but it should not be political, it should not be a political cudgel. After all, I myself was the subject of a pseudo-report from this commission that I cannot deal with security, just like Prime Minister Tusk and other people – he added.
The coordinator of the secret services revealed that the work of the commission would be supervised by the Minister of Justice. – And in the coming days we will work to fulfill this task of Prime Minister Tusk – assured the TVN24 guest.
The case of Judge Tomasz Szmydt, ABW initiated inspection activities
Judge Szmydt announced on Monday that he was asking the Belarusian authorities for asylum at a conference in Minsk. He also talked about “resignation from the position of judge of the Republic of Poland with immediate effect” He argued that resigning from his position was an expression of “a protest against the policy pursued by the Polish authorities towards Belarus and Russia.”
Also on Monday, the press spokesman of the Minister Coordinator of Special Services, Jacek Dobrzyński, announced that The Internal Security Agency initiated inspection activities in order to verify the scope of classified information to which Szmydt had access in connection with his function and conducted matters.
Except that The National Prosecutor's Office initiated proceedings related to the case of Judge Tomasz Szmydt, and the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar announced that a motion to waive the judge's immunity is being prepared. The decision will be made by the disciplinary court attached to the Supreme Administrative Court.
Judge Szmydt is one of the heroes of the hate scandal during the PiS government, which concerns the slander of judges opposed to the reforms of the United Right in the judiciary.
Recently, the investigation into the scandal has gained momentum, and a three-person team has been appointed to conduct the investigation at the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Wrocław.
Main photo source: TVN24