Dariusz Matecki spent approximately two months in pre-trial detention. Now – according to Rzeczpospolita – he has been fined 9,000 PLN for failing to submit his financial disclosure on time. “Financial disclosures can be submitted starting from January 1st, and MP Matecki knew that he was facing potential arrest, so he should have fulfilled his parliamentary obligations before that,” stated Jarosław Urbaniak, MP from Civic Coalition (KO) and Chair of the Sejm Committee on Parliamentary Ethics, Affairs, and Immunities, offering a rather questionable justification.
To recall, in early March, Dariusz Matecki was “publicly” detained by the Internal Security Agency (ABW) as he was voluntarily heading to the prosecutor’s office.
After two months – in late April of this year – Matecki was released from the detention center in Radom. He was freed on bail set at 500,000 PLN.
The court imposed police supervision, requiring weekly check-ins and prohibiting him from leaving the country.
However, his release from custody did not mark the end of his troubles. While detained, Matecki received neither his parliamentary salary nor allowances. After regaining freedom, he learned that the prosecutor’s office had frozen his bank account, and he encountered difficulties in opening a new one.
“The prosecutor’s office froze my bank account. I can’t pay bills or buy anything for my child,” the politician said at the time.
More Trouble for Matecki
Rzeczpospolita now reports that the lack of income during detention was not the only financial repercussion. According to the paper, the MP is also facing additional sanctions for failing to submit his financial disclosure on time. The deadline for submission was April 30, the same as the deadline for annual tax returns – that is, five days after Matecki left detention.
However, the PiS MP had been arrested in March for a two-month period, which, according to the original schedule set by the authorities, would have had him released after the disclosure deadline had already passed.
“Upon leaving detention, I didn’t have certain documents from the Sejm related to the amounts I needed to report in the disclosure. I submitted the statement as soon as I gathered the required information,” Matecki told Rzeczpospolita.
A Planned Spectacle?
The newspaper reached out to Jarosław Urbaniak for comment. His response was striking.
“Financial disclosures can be submitted as early as January 1st, and MP Matecki knew he might be arrested, so he should have fulfilled his parliamentary duties in advance,” Urbaniak said. This statement clearly implies that the “show” surrounding Matecki’s arrest may have been premeditated.
The article continues: “The loss of salary was not the end of the consequences faced by Matecki. He also received a formal reprimand from the Committee on Parliamentary Ethics, Affairs, and Immunities.”
As Rzeczpospolita adds, the reason for the penalty was Matecki’s failure to submit a written explanation for the delay and his absence from the committee meeting. When asked, Matecki stated that he did not attend the meeting because, in his view, “parliamentary committees are acting toward him in a biased manner.”