Prosecutors in Poland have applied to waive the parliamentary immunity of Tomasz Grodzki, the opposition’s speaker of the Senate, whom they accuse of taking bribes during his time as director of a hospital in the city of Szczecin.
Members of Grodzki’s party, Civic Coalition (PO), have called the move “politically motivated” and an attempt to distract from ongoing graft and cronyism accusations against the CEO of a state oil firm. Grodzki himself has previously denied the accusations and said people were being offered money to make false claims against him.
Prosecutors in Szczecin have applied to the Senate for Grodzki – who has served as speaking since late 2019 – to have his immunity waived, which is necessary to put forward criminal charges against MPs and senators.
They want to charge him with four counts of accepting bribes ranging between 1,500 (€325) and 7,000 zloty (€1,520). In return for the payments, Grodzki “undertook to carry out surgery personally or to perform it quickly, as well as to ensure good medical care,” said a press release from the national prosecutor’s office.
Since 2016, the national prosecutor has been Zbigniew Ziobro, who concurrently serves as justice minister. This has led to claims from critics that the prosecutorial service has been politicised, and is used to serve the government’s agenda.
The alleged offences carry a potential penalty of up to eight years in prison in Poland. The earliest cited case dates back to May 2006, when Grodzki, a thoracic surgeon, allegedly accepted 1,500 zloty from the son of a patient in exchange for providing his father with good care.
“The testimony of witnesses shows that in the hospital ward, the knowledge that Dr Grodzki accepted bribes was common,” according to the statement. “There was also a belief that paying a bribe is necessary for the patient to be well treated.”
Prosecutors also claim that, in September 2009, Grodzki asked for 10,000 zloty (€2,170) from a patient to bring an operation forward. He purportedly accepted 3,000 zloty (€650) and $500 (€420) ahead of the surgery, but “did not ask” for the remainder because “the patient had health issues after the operation”.
Earlier in 2009, Grodzki is accused of telling a patient in a private surgery that he could operate on him personally at the state hospital, and then accepting “an envelope with 2,000 zloty” in exchange for the surgery during his next visit.
Finally, it is claimed that, in March 2012, Grodzki received 7,000 zloty from the wife of an elderly cancer patient in exchange for the doctor personally conducting a planned surgery. Prosecutors say they have also heard of accounts of accepting bribes before 2006, but these are now statute-barred.
Marcin Bosacki, a party colleague of Grodzki and head of the main opposition caucus in the Senate, said that the intentions of the motion to strip the speaker of immunity were “obviously political” since “the prosecutor’s office is no longer independent”, reports TVN 24.
Meanwhile, Jan Grabiec, PO’s spokesman, said that the accusations were intended to distract attention from recent accusations of cronyism and graft made against Daniel Obajtek, a ruling party ally who heads state oil giant Orlen.
“This is a scandal that weighs heavily on the power camp and it was clear to us that they would look for some counterbalance to at least explain to PiS voters that scandals concern not only important PiS politicians,” said Grabiec. “The moment when the prosecutor’s office makes this request is not accidental.”
Main image credit: Senat RP/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
