Detained son of Polish chief auditor says anti-corruption action was “for show”

The son of Poland’s chief auditor, Marian Banaś, has claimed his detention on suspicion of financial misconduct was “for show” in a campaign by corruption authorities targeting his father. His attorney has said he will file a complaint to the prosecutor’s office this week.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor general has moved to waive the immunity of Banaś senior, president of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), whose office has in recent weeks published a series of scathing reports concerning top government officials.

The development is the latest escalation in a conflict between Marian Banaś, who is being investigated for financial misconduct since 2019, and the PiS government that he previously served in as a minister.

Banaś’s son Jakub, who also serves as his social advisor, was returning from holiday with family on Friday when he was detained at Kraków airport. The next day, the Białystok regional prosecutor’s office presented him with seven charges of alleged financial misconduct.

Banaś junior says that the detention was meant “for show” and was aimed at “striking against [his] father”. “I was guarded by 13 armed officers as if I were a dangerous bandit,” he said on Saturday, reports RMF FM.

“This is a drastic action,” said his attorney Dariusz Raczkiewicz, who argued that the public arrest in the presence of family was unnecessary given that his client “did not intend to go into hiding and cooperated with law enforcement agencies”. He added that the prosecutor’s office will receive a complaint on Friday about the detention.

While Jakub Banaś had been originally investigated in relation to a CBA probe into irregularities concerning his father’s financial statements, he is now being charged with financial misconduct including defrauding 120,000 zloty (more than €26,000) in subsidies for the renovation of a tenement house and extortion of 80,000 zloty (almost €17,500) in VAT, reports RMF FM.

In 2019, CBA notified prosecutors of a suspected crime by Banaś relating to alleged false asset declarations that concealed his wealth and sources of income. However, no charges have yet been brought against him.

Also detained on Friday, the director of the Tax Administration Chamber in Kraków, Tadeusz G. (whose surname is withheld under Polish privacy law), confessed to six charges, including unlawful disclosure of information on CBA activity to Marian Banaś.

Marian Banaś has claimed that his family is being targeted as part of a “smear campaign” aiming to remove him from his position as a government watchdog. Anti-corruption officials had already twice raided Banaś’s son’s apartment twice this year before Friday’s events.

The head of NIK, a state body responsible for auditing public spending and management of public property, has for some time been locked in conflict with the government. In recent weeks, he has notified prosecutors of suspected crimes by PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński as well as the prime minister and three other members of the cabinet.

Marian Banaś has since 2019 been investigated by the CBA over his personal wealth, including a property that was reportedly used as a brothel. He has also been investigated in connection with his subordinates at the finance ministry, who have been charged with VAT fraud.

On Friday, the prosecutor’s office announced that the prosecutor general, Zbigniew Ziobro, who also serves as justice minister, had asked the speaker of the Sejm to waive Banaś’s immunity.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday that it would be a “disappointment…if the accusations…were confirmed”, adding that he “appreciates” Banaś’s role in closing tax loopholes as well as in “the struggle for democracy in Poland in the 1980s”. Commenting on the detention of Jakub Banaś, Morawiecki added that “everyone is equal before the law”.

Banaś served the PiS-led administration from 2015 to 2019, first as head of the customs service, then leading the National Revenue Administration, a tax authority, before becoming finance minister.

In August 2019, he was elected by the PiS-controlled parliament as head of NIK. Just a few weeks later, media reports emerged accusing Banaś of having links to criminal groups (which he denies). He refused to resign, despite being  urged to do so by Morawiecki, and neither the government nor parliament has the power to remove him.

Main image credit: Grzegorz Dąbrowski/Agencja Gazeta

Maria Wilczek

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.