On Friday, the Sejm waived the immunity of Law and Justice MP, former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro, in relation to all 26 charges that the National Prosecutor’s Office wants to bring against him in connection with the Justice Fund case. The Sejm also consented to the detention and possible temporary arrest of the former head of the Ministry of Justice. The execution of the decision on detention was entrusted to officers of the Internal Security Agency. PiS politics is not in the country, it is in Budapest.
Leśkiewicz said on Saturday on Telewizja Republika that this is an “absurd, bizarre and extremely dangerous situation, because it shows how instrumentally those in power use the law.” — How can it be assumed that the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General, acting within their statutory competences and transparently spending funds from the Justice Fund, is the head of an organized criminal group? This is a complete aberration, said the president’s spokesman.
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What charges were brought against Zbigniew Ziobro?
Who lifted Zbigniew Ziobro’s immunity?
What role did Minister Żurek play in the Ziobro case?
What actions were to be taken by the Internal Security Agency?
He added that Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek was “instrumentally used by Prime Minister Donald Tusk” and started a campaign against Zbigniew Ziobro, “started the Olympics because those in power do not give Poles bread.”
— In order to somehow demonstrate its actions and meet the needs of the most hardcore electorate, this assessment of the Justice Fund’s activities was issued. It was indicated that the Minister of Justice and hundreds of thousands of Poles who benefited from the Justice Fund belong to some organized criminal group, said Leśkiewicz.
Rafał Leśkiewicz attacks the Minister of Justice
The president’s spokesman also referred to the video published on Friday on social media, after the Sejm voted on the motion to waive Ziobro’s immunity, by Minister Żurek. In it, the head of the Ministry of Justice says, sitting at the canteen: “immunity has been taken away, sour rye soup has been served.” He invites Zbigniew Ziobro to the country for żurek, adding that this soup is also served in detention centers and prisons.
Leśkiewicz commented that the film was bizarre and not very funny, and Minister Żurek assumed in advance in the recording that Zbigniew Ziobro would be arrested while the court made a decision on the matter.
The essence of the allegations against Ziobro is “rigging” competitions for multi-million grants from the Justice Fund. According to the prosecutor’s office, Ziobro allegedly acted in order to obtain financial benefits for other people and personal and political benefits for himself, together with, among others, with deputies Marcin Romanowski and Michał Wosiem and PiS MP Dariusz Matecki. In this way, it was intended to act to the detriment of the state and the public interest, limiting access to the fund for authorized entities.
According to the prosecutor’s office, members of the criminal group led by Ziobro awarded grants to entities that did not meet formal requirements, and the funds transferred were often spent contrary to the fund’s objectives. Moreover, members of the group led by Ziobro allegedly awarded subsidies to entities that were not entitled to them – for example because they did not meet formal requirements. Moreover, the transferred funds were spent for purposes other than those for which the fund was established.
