This report will not be accepted and PiS will be punished. But those who expect a massacre will be disappointed – said Andrzej Stankiewicz, deputy editor-in-chief of onet.pl, in “Fakty po Faktach”. Journalist of the tvn24.pl portal Grzegorz Łakomski stated that according to his information “the Justice Fund will not be considered as a reason for rejecting PiS's financial report”.
National Electoral Commission did not make a decision last Wednesday on the financial report of the PiS electoral committee for the 2023 parliamentary elections. The committee adjourned the meeting on this matter until August 29. It was justified that after receiving extensive documentation, including from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the National Electoral Commission contacted two state institutions: the Government Legislative Centre (RCL) and the Scientific and Academic Computer Network (NASK), to clarify doubts arising from letters that have recently been received. They have until August 9 to respond.
Government representatives expect the PiS committee report to be rejected and raise concerns about the spending of Justice Fund funds, the use of public property, the financing of advertising spots, and the acceptance of prohibited financial benefits.
The consequence of a possible rejection of the financial report could be that PiS could lose up to 75 percent of its nearly PLN 26 million subsidy and up to 75 percent of the subsidy for each seat obtained in parliament.
This issue was addressed in “Fakty po Faktach” by Andrzej Stankiewicz, deputy editor-in-chief of onet.pl, and Grzegorz Łakomski, journalist of the tvn24.pl portal.
Stankiewicz: PiS will be punished, but those who expect a massacre will be disappointed
Stankiewicz, when asked whether the National Electoral Commission would not accept the PiS financial report, replied that “it will be so”.
– This report will not be accepted and PiS will be punished. But those who expect a massacre and the taking away of two types of money from Law and Justice – subsidies, i.e. the so-called return for the campaign in the amount of 75 percent of the one-time amount due to PiS, and subsidies, i.e. money paid annually to parties because they exceeded the electoral threshold of three percent, also in the maximum scope of 75 percent, will be disappointed – he stated.
– I know the documents, I talked to people from the National Electoral Commission and the National Electoral Office. It's like the National Electoral Commission, I like the example of Al Capone, will catch PiS on minor things – he said.
The famous gangster was convicted not of criminal activity, but of tax evasion.
As he added, “if someone thinks that the National Electoral Commission will reject the PiS report because Zbigniew Ziobro's supporters robbed the Justice Fund, then no.”
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Łakomski: The National Electoral Commission looks at these matters completely differently than we do
Grzegorz Łakomski spoke in a similar tone. – I also had such signals earlier, that the Justice Fund itself would not be taken into account as a reason for rejecting PiS's financial report – he said.
– We must remember that the National Electoral Commission and the National Electoral Office, which examines the reports, look at these matters completely differently than we do as journalists or ordinary recipients. In the context of the millions that went to fire trucks, to pots, I heard the following question from the National Electoral Commission: are these fire trucks standing on Nowogrodzka (the street where the PiS headquarters is – ed.)? They are not standing, they are just driving – the journalist noted.
Łakomski: The National Electoral Commission looks at these matters completely differently than we do TVN24
– The National Electoral Commission assesses from a formal point of view that when it comes to the amounts used for the election campaign, it is impossible to count the value of fire trucks and say that all of this was an election campaign – he added.
“If you read the law, the National Electoral Commission is already going beyond its competences”
Łakomski stated that “the National Electoral Commission lacks certain instruments”. – I even heard such information concerning a specific PiS politician. In the National Electoral Commission, they calculated it themselves and knew that his campaign was worth a million zlotys, although officially, according to invoices, it was of course much less – he said.
– To do this on a larger scale, the National Electoral Commission, or previously the National Electoral Office, would have to have the right instruments. If we were to look at the election campaigns of practically all parties and calculate how much these billboards and leaflets actually cost, these amounts certainly in many cases significantly exceed what we find in the invoices. But to calculate and estimate this, we need the right legal instruments and people who will be able to do it – he stated.
Stankiewicz said that in his opinion it is “demoralizing”. – Literally, if you read the law, the National Electoral Commission is already going beyond its competences. If they are asking the government about the employment of people in the Prime Minister's office, about the research conducted by NASK, they are going beyond their competences, because they should only be examining the report of the election committee – he pointed out. As he continued, “if you said A, you have to say B”.
Stankiewicz: if you read the law, the National Electoral Commission is already going beyond its competencesTVN24
– And we all know how it will end. After the decision of the National Electoral Commission, the case will go to the Chamber of Extraordinary Control of the Supreme Court anyway, because PiS will appeal there. This is a chamber not recognized by European institutions, consisting of neo-judges. We know what its verdict will be. However, it seems to me that for the purity of public life, the National Electoral Commission should go further than saying that “six people from Szczucki employed for nine hundred thousand and some research done for several dozen thousand, two, three million in total, we will take a little bit from them and everyone will be happy”. – This is demoralizing – he repeated.
Main image source: TVN24