“This is nothing more than an attempt to create distractions to cover up scandals, embarrassments, lawbreaking, and the abuse of power by those in government. You will not be able to hide the downfall that is about to catch up with you,” wrote Przemysław Czarnek of Law and Justice (PiS), the party’s candidate for prime minister, commenting on today’s arrests and searches carried out by Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA).
On Tuesday morning, CBA officers searched the homes of former board members of the Polish National Foundation, Maciej Świrski and Cezary Jurkiewicz, as well as the residence of TV Republika journalist Piotr Matczuk and Anna Plakwicz, an official at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland under President Karol Nawrocki.
Świrski and Jurkiewicz were detained. According to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Rzeszów, the arrests were made “as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities related to the financing of the ‘Fair Courts’ campaign in 2017.”
One of the opposition’s leading figures and Law and Justice (PiS) candidate for prime minister, Przemysław Czarnek, described the operation as “the last convulsions of a rotting coalition.”
“This is nothing more than an attempt to create distractions to cover up scandals, embarrassments, lawbreaking, and the abuse of power by those in government. You will not be able to hide the downfall that is about to catch up with you,” he wrote on social media.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński also criticized the operation.
“A hysterical attempt to cover up the deadly scandal involving Civic Platform (PO)/Civic Coalition (KO) at South Hospital and the more than half a million złoty paid to Mr. Tusk’s adviser, Ms. Grenda, for a fictitious non-compete clause. They detained M. Świrski and C. Jurkiewicz. It is difficult to see this as anything other than crude political revenge,” he said.
Meanwhile, Law and Justice (PiS) MP Sebastian Kaleta argued:
“It’s another display of PO tactics and the persecution of people opposed to the government. They are digging up a case from nine years ago simply because judges who applauded Tusk felt offended.”
TV Republika CEO Tomasz Sakiewicz said he had no doubts about the nature of the operation. In his view, the actions of the services were “purely propagandistic” and intended to divert public attention from the problems facing the current government.
Speaking to TV Republika after officers searched his home earlier in the day, Piotr Matczuk suggested that the operation might be connected to the prosecution service’s current “problems.”
“I testified in this case as a witness a year ago and provided all the necessary explanations. The CBA and the prosecution knew perfectly well about all the documents. A year passes, the people leading the prosecution are facing political troubles, Donald Tusk is also facing political problems, and suddenly this happens,” he said.
Earlier today, Donald Tusk himself criticized the prosecution service following another court defeat in its legal battle against Zbigniew Ziobro.