Zbigniew Ziobro talks about “bribes” accepted by the Speaker of the Senate. Tomasz Grodzki responds

– Mr. Marshal Grodzki took bribes and grossly extorted bribes, according to the findings of the prosecutor’s office, from poor sick patients – he said on Saturday Zbigniew Ziobro on RMF radio. – The prosecutor’s office I manage wants to file charges, but Mr. Grodzki hides behind immunity. We have a dozen or so people, by name and surname, who have the courage under civil law to accuse Mr. Grodzki, his right-hand man, under criminal liability. Donald Tusk about widespread bribery, Ziobro said. According to the minister, Tusk protects Grodzki by putting him forward as a candidate again elections to the Senate to gain immunity. He added that as the prosecutor general who is supervising this case, he believes that the requests to bring the Speaker of the Senate to court are justified. However, “Grodzki and his friends from the Platform” block the case so that the court cannot take it up. Zbigniew Ziobro also announced that “another request to waive the immunity” of Tomasz Grodzki is being formulated.

Ziobro also talked about it during Saturday’s press conference when asked about the visa scandal. – The collected trial material does not in the slightest indicate any criminal involvement of Mr. (Piotr) Wawrzyk in corruption. There is not an ounce of evidence for this. However, there is plenty of evidence pointing to the corruption of Marshal Grodzki, the third person in the country protected by Donald Tusk, he said. – Both there and here we have a huge similarity. Because in the case of visas, bribes were for what? For time, for speeding up the visa issuance. And in the case of bribes that Mr. Grodzki received, according to the prosecutor’s office, what were the bribes for? Also for time, only to speed up saving the health of patients who paid a lot of money for it – said Ziobro.

Marshal Grodzki responded to Ziobro’s allegations on Saturday. – I have never accepted any bribes or made any operation conditional on the payment of money – he said. He recalled that the “attack” against him “unleashed” when he became Speaker of the Senate.

– One of the residents of Szczecin testified in the prosecutor’s office that he was offered PLN 5,000 to testify against me. I have dozens of letters from patients who tell me what really happened, that I came to look after them at night and there was no question of any money. For the protection of patients, I am not revealing their names, of course, Grodzki noted.

He argued that he had a “clear conscience” in this matter. – And Minister Ziobro was once described by Prime Minister Miller and I think he was too kind in his assessment – he added.

In May 2022, the Senate rejected the motion to waive the immunity of Marshal Tomasz Grodzki. The repeal was requested by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Szczecin, which submitted a renewed application in December 2021. According to the prosecutor’s office, Grodzki, while serving as director of a specialist hospital in Szczecin and head of the local Thoracic Surgery Department, accepted financial benefits from patients or their relatives. It was about art. 228 of the Penal Code, i.e. the charge of “venality of a person performing a public function”. Grodzki, who is a professor of medical sciences and a surgeon, has repeatedly assured that the allegations of corruption made against him have no basis.