A recording has been published purporting to show the head of the state audit office, Marian Banaś, discussing a plan to use his position to help the opposition in the campaign for this Sunday’s elections.
The recording was published today by state broadcaster TVP, which is under the influence of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. It says it received the material from employees at the audit office “who do not agree with the politicisation of this institution”.
Before becoming president of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), Banaś was a member of the PiS government. However, since then, he has become one of its opponents. His institution has published a number of reports alleging wasteful spending and, in some cases, criminal actions by government figures.
🔴TYLKO U NAS🔴
Ujawniamy taśmy Banasia#wieszwięcej pic.twitter.com/YxBj8Uftze— tvp.info 🇵🇱 (@tvp_info) October 13, 2023
The audio clip – which lasts around two and a half minutes and has been edited down from a longer recording – was made “this summer” at a meeting between Banaś and Marek Chmaj, “a lawyer who acted as an intermediary with [opposition leader] Donald Tusk”, says TVP.
Nowhere in the recording, however, is Tusk’s name mentioned. TVP claims that when Banaś mentions “the boss”, he is referring to Tusk. However, it has not offered any evidence that Chmaj was acting as a go-between with Tusk.
In response to the release of the recording, Chmaj confirmed to news website Wirtualna Polska that the conversation did take place but said that “this fragment is out of context” and “I don’t have a boss”. He suggested he may take legal action against TVP.
Taśmy Banasia. Prof. Chmaj: rozważam kroki prawne przeciw TVP https://t.co/O31Ws1c9oB pic.twitter.com/3BT9KFqaSV
— Wirtualna Polska (@wirtualnapolska) October 13, 2023
In the audio, Banaś is heard saying that he agreed to his son, Jakub, becoming an election candidate this year for the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) party “for one reason: we have to make sure they don’t enter into coalition with PiS”.
Following a rapid rise in the polls this year, Confederation was seen as a potential kingmaker in the scenario that neither PiS nor the mainstream opposition obtained a majority at the elections.
In July, Jakub Banaś was announced as one of the party’s candidates and soon after Marian Banaś held a press conference with one of the party’s leaders.
The head of the state audit office held a press conference alongside the main leader of Poland's largest far-right party, which has been surging in the polls.
The pair announced a bill intended to strengthen the office, which monitors government spending https://t.co/rCxyUxFv9t
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 27, 2023
In response to what Banaś senior says in the recording, Chmaj says that he “will explain it myself”, though it is not made clear to whom. Banaś then repeats again that “there cannot be a coalition [between PiS and Confederation]. I won’t let that happen”.
The NIK president then goes on to say that he “has influence on [Anna] Siarkowska”, an MP who left the PiS parliamentary caucus in July this year and joined Confederation.
“This is my job…This is how we weaken them all the time, because only Confederation can reach this electorate,” continues Banaś, in what is presumably a reference to drawing away hard-right voters from PiS.
One third of young Poles plan to vote for the far right at this year's election, more than for any other political group, a study of voters aged 18-21 shows.
It also found that 80% say they are "frustrated with the current political situation in Poland" https://t.co/azU0sQwXbD
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 25, 2023
“It’s going well. Tell the boss that we have a lot of control and influence over Confederation,” Banaś then tells Chmaj, in what TVP claims is an instruction for Chmaj to update Tusk.
Chmaj then suggests that Banaś will “prepare a gift basket for October”. To which the NIK president responds that it will be “late September, early October” and says that “your side will publicise it”.
“I will act until the last minute, because I am not bound by any electoral silence,” concludes Banaś, in a reference to the fact that political parties must stop campaigning at the end of today ahead of Sunday’s elections.
The government misspent billions on its pandemic response, including spending more on maintaining empty Covid beds than on treating patients, says the state audit office.
It wants prosecutors to bring charges against the state assets minister https://t.co/xPpAmEsesn
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 12, 2023
In response to TVP’s release of the recording, Jakub Banaś published a video saying that it shows “how the security services work” in Poland and that “NIK has been infiltrated”.
He noted that the audio was leaked just as NIK was about to present a report today on alleged corruption and abuse of power at the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR), a state agency.
One of Confederation’s leaders, Krzysztof Bosak, tweeted that “neither Marian Banaś nor anyone else from the elites has nor will have any behind-the-scenes influence on the strategy and activities of Confederation”.
Siarkowska, meanwhile, wrote that “if this recording is genuine, it looks like Marian Banaś is a mythomaniac. No one influences me”.
Ani Marian Banaś ani nikt inny z elit nie ma i nie będzie miał zakulisowego wpływu na strategię i działania Konfederacji. Tę strategię ustalamy w Radzie Liderów, konsultujemy z naszymi partiami i wspólnie ze @SlawomirMentzen przewodzimy w jej realizacji. Ustaliliśmy wspólnie, że…
— Krzysztof Bosak 🇵🇱 (@krzysztofbosak) October 13, 2023
However, the government’s spokesman, Piotr Müller, called the recording “shocking” and “confirmation that Marian Banaś will manipulate NIK’s materials in the final days before the elections” to “serve PO [Tusk’s Civic Platform party] and Confederation”.
At the time of writing, neither Donald Tusk nor his party, nor Banaś and NIK, had commented on the recording
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Main image credit: TVP Info (screenshot)
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.
