2024-07-01 13:36 update: 2024-07-03, 14:50
Photo PAP/Wojtek Jargiło
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has publicly asked Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the former ruling coalition United Right, why he did not notify prosecutors of fraud taking place in his political camp, as evidenced in Kaczynski's letter of 2019.
On Monday, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza published a letter Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice (PiS), wrote before the 2019 parliamentary elections to Zbigniew Ziobro, the leader of PiS's junior coalition partner Solidary Poland and the then justice minister. In the letter, Kaczynski urged Ziobro "to immediately ban the candidates of Solidary Poland from using the Justice Fund in the election campaign."
The Justice Fund was a special reserve at the justice ministry designed to help victims of crimes and accidents, but was allegedly used to promote Ziobro's party. It was also used to secretly purchase an Israeli spy system Pegasus in order to spy on opposition and government critics, according to the findings of an ongoing enquiry by a special parliamentary commission.
"In the case of the alleged letter by Jaroslaw Kaczynski I have only three questions...," Tusk said.
"The first one is obvious: Is it an authentic letter? Did Jaroslaw Kaczynski really write the letter in which he warns against illegal use of financial means from the Justice Fund for the election campaign of United Right politicians?
"Second: Did Jaroslaw Kaczynski... really know of the scale of these dealings involving the illegal use of public funds that were meant to serve victims of crimes and accidents?
"And the third and the most important question. If he knew, if he shared this knowledge in this letter with his political partners, then (the question is - PAP) whether and when did he notify the prosecutors about... such things taking place," Tusk said.
"Every public officer is legally obliged to immediately notify prosecutors about the possibility of a crime having been committed, if they are a witness (to it - PAP) or have knowledge that such a crime is taking place," Tusk went on to say. (PAP)
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