Poland’s ambassador to France removed from duty after being detained in fake-diploma probe

Dec 26, 2025 | Business, Law, Politics

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s ambassador to France, Jan Rościszewski, has been removed from his position after being detained by anti-corruption agents as part of an investigation into fake diplomas issued by private universities.

Many Polish politicians and officials have been accused of paying to obtain such diplomas without undertaking studies. The qualifications then allowed them to hold lucrative positions on the boards of state-owned companies.

As well as Rościszewski, a former member of parliament from the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and a senior banker were detained also this week as part of the same investigation.

News website Goniec first reported that Rościszewski was detained by Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) officers after landing at Warsaw Chopin airport. Two other men, named only as Maks K. and Paweł P. under Polish privacy law, were detained at their homes in relation to the same case.

Maks K., a former long-serving PiS MP and former deputy president of PKO, a large state-owned bank, reportedly arranged to obtain MBA degrees for himself, Paweł P and Rościszewski (who has waived his right to privacy) from the Management Academy of Applied Sciences (MANS) in Warsaw.

The rector of MANS at the time was a man named by Goniec as Paweł C., who is at the heart of an investigation into another private university, Collegium Humanum, that is accused by prosecutors of corruptly issuing MBA diplomas without recipients having to actually study for them.

Last month, prosecutors issued the first indictments against those accused of involvement in the scam. Among those who will stand trial are the mayor of Wrocław, Poland’s third-largest city, two former members of the European Parliament, and a former presidential spokesman.

Before being appointed as ambassador to France in 2022, Rościszewski worked in finance. In 2016, he became deputy CEO of PKO and in 2021 its CEO. Paweł P., meanwhile has held various senior positions at PKO, and recently became a member of the board of VeloBank, a private Polish bank.

Goniec reports that Rościszewski is believed by prosecutors to have obtained an MBA from MANS (which was at the time known as Warsaw Management University, or WSM) without studying for it. He then used the degree to meet the requirements to sit on supervisory board of state-owned firms.

After news of Rościszewski’s arrest emerged on Wednesday, the foreign ministry’s spokesman, Maciej Wewiór, announced that the ambassador had been relieved of his duties by a decision of foreign minister Radosław Sikorski.

Meanwhile, Rościszewski himself issued a statement fo the Polish Press Agency (PAP) in which he said that was “cooperating fully with prosecutors” and had “provided extensive eplanations” of his actions. Media reports indicate that Rościszewski has pleaded not guilty.

In his statement, Rościszewski also noted that he had served on numerous boards even before obtaining a diploma from Warsaw Management University.


Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Polska we Francji (under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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