Prosecutors to investigate firm of deputy minister accused of selling fake treatments for sick children

Pressure is growing on the government over a deputy minister who is accused of running a company that marketed unproven medical treatments to the families of seriously ill children. The revelations emerged a week ago, but the official in question, Łukasz Mejza, remains in place.

Yesterday, local authorities in a province where another of Mejza’s firms was headquartered announced that they had notified prosecutors regarding its possible criminal activity. It also emerged yesterday that a close associate of Mejza has been indicted by prosecutors, resulting in the shares of another of his firms being seized by bailiffs.

As well as its legal and ethical aspects, the case is seen to have major political implications. Removing Mejza could risk the ruling majority’s fragile parliamentary majority. Yet keeping him in place has also caused anger among some in the ruling camp.

Last week, Wirtualna Polska (WP), a leading news website, published an investigation into the business activities of Mejza, who is an MP belonging to the Republican Party (a junior member of the ruling coalition) and was last month appointed deputy minister of sport and tourism.

WP found that one of Mejza’s firms, Vinci NeoClinic, offered stem-cell therapy treatments for illnesses including cancer, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s. The starting price was $80,000.

The company advertised its treatments as “breaking all barriers known so far in medicine”. Yet experts say that the therapy it offered is unproven and potentially even dangerous.

WP notes that Mejza was not only the company’s CEO, but also oversaw communication with potential patients. The website published testimony from parents of sick children who described being encouraged to buy the firm’s treatments, leaving them feeling cheated once they realised they were ineffective.

In response to the claims, Mejza issued a statement saying that “neither I nor Vinci NeoClinic issued a single invoice and we did not earn a single zloty from the activity described in the article”. He also claims to be the victim of a “perfidious media attack aimed at breaking up the government majority”.

Before and since WP’s report, a number of other accusations were made against Mejza. They included claims that, early on in the pandemic, he tried to sell masks that did not have medical approval and were produced by a company that turned out not to exist.

In August, Mejza was reprimanded by the parliamentary authorities for refusing to submit the asset declaration legally required from all MPs.

Mejza has denied all wrongdoing, telling local station Radio Zielona Góra last week that, because “the government hangs on me, because I saved this government, they [his accusers] will shoot at me, they will lie, they will invade my family [life]. I will keep doing my job and explain things in court”.

His mention of “saving the government” refers to political events of recent months, which saw the ruling coalition briefly lose its parliamentary majority but then regain it after deals with smaller parties. One of those was the newly formed Republicans, of which Mejza is a member.

In response to the accusations against Mejza, the leader of the Republicans, Adam Bielan, told TVP Info that if he is found to have broken the law, then he should lose his post in government. But he noted that so far no such finding has been made. Bielan refused to explain why all mention of Mejza has been removed from the party’s website.

Mejza’s superior, sports minister Kamil Bortniczuk, earlier this week defended his deputy, saying that he was the victim of “a very clear attack”. He added that he had “asked Mejza for an explanation and in my opinion it is credible”.

However, Bortniczuk acknowledged that “Mejza is aware that he has made a mistake” regarding selling unproven treatments to sick people. But he claimed that Mejza had himself been misled by a business partner, and also noted that there was no evidence of the law being broken.

Yesterday it emerged that the management board of Lubuskie province had asked prosecutors to investigate another of Mejza’s firms, Future Wolves. It is accused of earning almost 1 million zloty (€215,000) – most of it from EU funds – for providing vouchers for training that there is no evidence actually took place, reports TVN24.

Separately, Onet reported yesterday that a close business associate of Mejza has been indicted for misappropriating 400,000 zloty (€86,000). One of the reported victims is a man who donated tens of thousands of zloty to one of Mejza’s elections campaigns.

A firm co-owned by the accused and Mejza has had its shares seized in relation to the case.

A number of MPs from the ruling camp have publicly expressed dissatisfaction that the government has taken no action against Mejza. Paweł Kukiz, leader of a small party that votes with the ruling caucus, has said that this cooperation would be threatened if the accusations turn out to be true.

However, inside sources speaking to news website Interia say that, at a meeting with the prime minister, Mejza warned that if he left the ruling majority then another MP, one of his allies, would also do so, and that this could give the opposition a majority.

Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.