Tuesday’s operation by Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) was not a fight against crime but “political theater,” according to former Interior and Administration Minister Mariusz Kamiński. Speaking to Niezalezna.pl, he argued that the use of the CBA was intended to create the false impression of a corruption scandal. He also suggested that the actions targeting people connected to the “Fair Courts” campaign may have been motivated by Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek’s personal grievances.
On Tuesday morning, CBA agents searched the homes of former members of the management board of the Polish National Foundation, Maciej Świrski and Cezary Jurkiewicz, as well as the home of TV Republika journalist Piotr Matczuk and Anna Plakwicz, an official at the Chancellery of the President of Poland under President-elect Karol Nawrocki.
Świrski and Jurkiewicz were detained. According to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Rzeszów, the detentions were carried out “in connection with alleged irregularities related to the financing of the ‘Fair Courts’ campaign” in 2017.
On Monday, Judge Anna Ptaszek, spokesperson for criminal matters at the Warsaw Regional Court, announced that the court had rejected the request to issue a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) for former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. She added that the court also dismissed the request for an arrest warrant that would have applied if Ziobro were in the United Kingdom. She emphasized that both rulings are final and cannot be appealed.
Nevertheless, Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek did not rule out filing another request for an EAW.
“The law must be effective, and we must effectively prosecute those who have broken the law in Poland,” he said in a video posted on X.
Tusk Disappointed With the Prosecutor’s Office. CBA Operation and Żurek’s Post About… “Accountability”
Prime Minister Donald Tusk was asked on Tuesday morning about what was described as the prosecutor’s office’s failure under Żurek’s leadership.
“It is frustrating that the coordination between the prosecutor’s office and the courts is, frankly speaking, not working well. The court concluded that since we cannot identify Zbigniew Ziobro’s whereabouts in Europe, a European Arrest Warrant makes no sense. Some prosecutors believe otherwise. In these formal disputes, what matters most gets lost – namely, the effectiveness of the Polish state in prosecuting alleged criminals, including former politicians,” Tusk said.
Moments later, he added:
“We still have a great deal of work ahead of us. I don’t want to complain about the state of the justice system as a whole, but rather about the work of some of its representatives in the prosecutor’s office and the judiciary. There is still a lot for me to do here…”
He then effectively apologized for having been overly optimistic about the pace of the government’s promised “accountability.”
“Sometimes I get the impression that Minister Żurek has much greater determination than actual capabilities, and that his hands are somewhat tied. That’s the truth. Perhaps I should apologize – I should have shown more imagination when I promised swift accountability. I did not foresee that it would be so difficult because of the situation in the prosecutor’s office, among other things,” the prime minister said.
The CBA operation took place only hours after Tusk’s press conference. As the story gained widespread media attention, Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek published a post on social media that prominently used the word “accountability.”
“Today, acting on the orders of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Rzeszów, the CBA detained former National Broadcasting Council chairman Maciej Ś. and Cezary J. in connection with an investigation into the financing of the ‘Fair Courts’ campaign. The proceedings concern decisions made in 2017, when both men served on the management board of the Polish National Foundation. According to prosecutors, the case involves suspected abuse of authority and failure to fulfill official duties in allocating at least PLN 8.4 million to a campaign which, instead of serving the Foundation’s statutory objectives, was aimed at undermining the foundations of democracy. Clarifying this case and holding those responsible for any abuses accountable is in the interest of citizens and public trust in state institutions,” the justice minister wrote.
Kamiński to Niezalezna.pl: The Goal Was to Create the Impression of a Corruption Scandal
Niezalezna.pl spoke with Mariusz Kamiński, former head of the CBA and the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, and currently a Member of the European Parliament representing Law and Justice (PiS).
According to Kamiński, “today’s detentions are undoubtedly political theater and are politically motivated.”
“The current government has recently been struggling with serious image problems, including scandals surrounding South Hospital and criticism from its own most loyal supporters, who complain that the promised accountability for the opposition has failed to materialize. After such a spectacular defeat as the court’s refusal to issue a European Arrest Warrant for Zbigniew Ziobro, all these circumstances undoubtedly prompted the authorities to cover up their incompetence and various public relations problems with actions like today’s,” he said.
Kamiński also criticized the decision to involve the CBA.
“I call this theater – a very specific kind of theater. It is personally painful for me because the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau has clearly been misused in these detentions. This is a prosecutor’s investigation, and the prosecutor’s office instructed the anti-corruption service to carry out the arrests. The police could have done exactly the same thing. But they wanted the CBA to do it in order to create the impression that this was a corruption scandal,” he argued.
He stressed that “there is absolutely no corruption involved here.”
“This is revenge against the Polish National Foundation, which once conducted an information campaign explaining the need for judicial reform. That issue probably affects Minister Żurek personally as well, because at the time he was a judge representing circles whose political activity demonstrated why judicial reform was necessary,” Kamiński said.
He concluded by suggesting that Żurek’s actions were also driven by personal motives.
“I believe that the former judge, now justice minister and prosecutor general, Mr. Żurek, is also guided by personal considerations. Using the CBA to carry out arrests that could just as easily have been handled by the police is a deliberate attempt to stigmatize those detained by creating the false impression of a corruption scandal that never existed,” the former Interior and Administration Minister concluded.