Poland’s Supreme Audit Office (NIK) has notified prosecutors of potential crimes committed by four members of the government, including the prime minister, in connection with last year’s abandoned presidential elections. All four have responded by denying wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, NIK – a state body responsible for auditing public spending – presented a report in which it accused officials of unlawfully attempting to organise the vote by post before the relevant legislation had been passed, at a cost of at least 76 million zloty.
At the time, NIK’s president, Marian Banaś – who is himself a former minister from the current ruling coalition but is now in conflict with the government – revealed that notifications could soon be made to prosecutors against senior officials.
In a statement yesterday, Banaś revealed that such notifications had been made against the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, and the head of his chancellery, Michał Dworzyk, who holds ministerial rank, as well as interior minister Mariusz Kamiński and minister for state assets Jacek Sasin.
NIK suspects that all four officials have breached article 231 par. 1 of Poland’s penal code concerning public officials “exceeding their authority, or not performing their duty…to the detriment of public or individual interest”. The crime carries a potential jail sentence of up to three years.
The NIK report released earlier this month found that the government “lacked a legal basis” for its decision to prepare a mail-in ballot. It suggested that, having been told this by legal advisors, the prime minister instead sought external opinions to the contrary.
In the cases of Sasin and Kamiński, NIK also alleges that they “failed to fulfil obligations” resulting from the prime minister’s orders (which, even if unlawful, were nonetheless binding to ministers).
According to NIK, the ministers did not draft “suitable agreements” with the Polish post office, Poczta Polska, and the Polish Security Printing Works, which had been ordered to organise the postal vote and print ballot papers in April last year.
NIK has previously notified prosecutors of potential crimes by the boards of those two state-owned firms, while a court last year found that the government had unlawfully transferred the personal data of Polish voters to the post office.
Whether the ministers are charged with crimes will now be decided by prosecutors, who are under the ultimate authority of justice minister and national prosecutor Zbigniew Ziobro, who is seen as a bitter rival of Morawiecki.
In a separate case last year, a court found that the prime minister had committed a “gross violation of the law” in attempting to hold the election. Morawiecki is contesting that ruling, arguing that he acted lawfully and was constitutionally obliged to do everything possible to hold the vote.
In response to yesterday’s notifications by NIK, Morawiecki responded that he “did not have the slightest concern” as he and his ministers had “behaved as needed so that the elections could be held”.
“On the contrary, if we tried not to secure the presidential election…then we could be accused by anyone – perhaps even by the same [people] as are today putting forward accusations about the preparation of such presidential elections – that at the time we did not pursue these preparations,” he said.
Sasin responded on Twitter, saying that the “authority of NIK was collapsing before our eyes” over the logic of accusing the prime minister of “issuing an unlawful decision” while also accusing Sasin of “not complying with it”.
Kamiński told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) in a statement that he was “convinced that the prosecutor’s office will dismiss the requests” as “unfounded”.
However, Wojciech Hermeliński, who previously served as a constitutional court judge and head of the electoral commission, told Wirtualna Polska that there had been “a clear violation of the constitution”. But he expressed doubts over whether officials would be held to account given the “political involvement of the prosecutor’s office”.
Szkoda autorytetu @NIKgovPL, który na naszych oczach upada. Prezes NIK oskarża @MorawieckiM o wydanie bezprawnej decyzji a mnie, że jej nie wykonałem. Pogratulować logiki.
— Jacek Sasin (@SasinJacek) May 25, 2021
Amid the first wave of the pandemic last year, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party sought to hold presidential elections entirely by post. However, following a rebellion by a junior coalition partner, the idea was eventually scrapped and elections delayed until the summer.
However, the government had already begun organising the vote before relevant legislation had been passed by parliament. As well as two court rulings finding that it acted illegally, it also had to pay 56 million zloty compensation to Poczta Polska and the Polish Security Printing Works.
Banaś has himself been investigated by the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) over his personal assets, including a property that was reportedly used as a brothel. He has also been investigated in connection with his subordinates in a previous role at the finance ministry, who have been charged with VAT fraud.
Main image credit: Dawid Zuchowicz / Agencja Gazeta
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.
