The National Electoral Commission is to decide on the financial report of the PiS electoral committee from the parliamentary elections at the end of August. The Money.pl portal writes that its unofficial findings indicate that potential irregularities in the financing of Jarosław Kaczyński's party's campaign were calculated by state institutions RCL and NASK at over PLN 700,000. “Everything is still being analyzed. The National Electoral Commission is familiarizing itself with the submitted materials, which is why all accounts are fluid. Not a day goes by without something new being received,” the portal's interlocutor points out.
National Electoral Commission adjourned until 29 August the meeting on the financial report of the PiS electoral committee from the parliamentary elections. The committee justified this by the need to contact two state institutions: the Government Legislation Centre (RCL) and the Scientific and Academic Computer Network (NASK), to clarify doubts. The Chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Sylwester Marciniak, justified that the letters sent earlier from the RCL lacked detailed calculations regarding the remuneration and scope of activities of the persons employed there. The materials from NASK lacked calculations regarding the value of the reports.
Unofficially: the amount exceeds 500 thousand zlotys
Money.pl points out that “in order for the Commission to enter the procedure of rejecting an election report, irregularities must be demonstrated in at least 1 percent of the election committee's expenses” and adds that in the case of PiS this amounts to approximately PLN 387 thousand. The portal reminds that The Government Legislation Centre has summed up the campaign expenses of the then head of this institution and candidate for the Sejm, Krzysztof Szczucki, at around PLN 214,000..
“This meant that – based on RCL's calculations alone – the National Electoral Commission was still short of approximately PLN 173,000 to have the minimum formal basis for a potential rejection of the PiS report,” writes Money.pl. The portal emphasizes that the amount that NASK will indicate here is therefore crucial. “Our unofficial findings indicate that the amount indicated by NASK as the cost of potential campaign activities exceeds PLN 500,000,” we read. The National Electoral Commission confirms that it received materials from NASK, but its representatives do not confirm this information.
“Theoretically, all this means that the calculations by RCL and NASK alone may allow the National Electoral Commission to reject the PiS election report. Because the total amount indicated by them is almost PLN 330,000 higher than the aforementioned necessary minimum, i.e. approximately PLN 387,000,” we read. It was summed up that unofficial findings indicate that “potential irregularities in the financing of the election campaign of Jarosław Kaczyński's party RCL and NASK calculated at over 700 thousand”. “This means that these calculations alone, if the National Electoral Commission also accepts them, will be sufficient to impose financial sanctions on PiS” – it was added.
“Not a day goes by without something new coming in”
The portal also writes that the potential consequences for the party Jaroslaw Kaczynski may prove to be painful. “The Committee declares that it spent 38.7 million zlotys on the campaign. If the decision of the National Electoral Commission was negative – i.e. the report would be rejected – and the Supreme Court upheld it, the party must reckon with losing up to 75 percent of the subsidy, i.e. a maximum of about 26 million zlotys,” Money.pl calculates. It adds that “a similar decision would probably concern the subsidy, i.e. the annual transfer for political parties from the budget (this will be calculated after the holidays based on the reports of political parties)”. “PiS is counting on 26 million annually here. Cutting it by three quarters means that over the course of four years, PiS will receive a total of 105 million less instead of 140 million,” it added.
According to the authors of the publication, “this would make it difficult for the party not only to function on an ongoing basis, but also to finance the campaign of the candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.”
“Everything is still being analyzed. The National Electoral Commission is familiarizing itself with the submitted materials, which is why all the calculations are fluid. Not a day goes by without something new being submitted,” the portal's interlocutor points out.
MEP Szczerba filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office
On August 14, PO MEP Michał Szczerba filed a notice with the National Prosecutor's Office regarding irregularities in the financing of the PiS election campaign. As he told journalists, the collected materials number five thousand pages – these are invoices, confirmations of transfers, graphic materials, which will be forwarded to the prosecutor's office on an electronic medium. The PO MEP explained that the documents concern the use of funds from the KGHM Polska Miedź Foundation, the Kostrzyn-Słubice Special Economic Zone and the BERM company for last year's PiS election campaign. As he said, the total amount at stake is PLN 1.2 million.
On August 18, Szczerba wrote on social media that “another half a million for the Berm company siphoned off for the illegal campaign of Jacek Sasin and PiS”. He informed that on September 25, KGHM signed an agreement with Berm to sponsor the event that took place a few days earlier. PiS MP and the former Minister of State Assets assures that he did not use the company's services.
Sasin responded to the PO MEP's statement on his X profile. “Once again, TVP (i.e. TVPlatforma) together with MP Michał Szczerba are running a festival of vulgar lies about me. I repeat once again – I do not know the Berm company, I have not used its services, nor have I asked anyone to do so on my behalf. Any slander will be met with a reaction aimed at protecting my good name,” he stated. He added that “you could just as well pull out all the contracts and invoices that Berm has concluded with State Treasury companies – both currently and during the PO government in 2008-2015 – and question their validity.” “The company, which I have not personally come into contact with, has been cooperating with State Treasury companies for a dozen or so years, so really, find a better topic for a sensation,” wrote the former Minister of State Assets.
The irregularities in the financing of last year's campaign by PiS were also pointed out by, among others, the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General Adam Bodnarwho in June asked the National Electoral Commission to investigate the issue of expenditure from the Justice Fund, and in August submitted a notification to the Commission regarding a clip from September 2023 in which the then Minister of Justice appeared Zbigniew Ziobro.
Main image source: Piotr Nowak/PAP