“We demand clear explanations from Speaker Czarzasty regarding these situations. We expect Speaker Czarzasty to complete the security questionnaire. He should resign or explain himself,” said Andrzej Śliwka, an MP from Law and Justice (PiS). The statement concerns information revealed by TV Republika about Czarzasty’s dangerous connections.
Czarzasty’s dangerous connections
Włodzimierz Czarzasty, leader of The Left (Lewica) and Speaker of the Sejm, has access to classified state documents due to his position. As the authors of the program “Ściśle Jawne” (English: ‘Strictly Classified’) have established, he has for years failed to undergo the required vetting procedures.
Despite being a member of the Sejm’s Committee on Special Services since November 2023, he has not submitted a security questionnaire to the Internal Security Agency (ABW). According to journalists, the reason may be his numerous business and social connections reaching back to circles associated with the former Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) from the 1990s. The politician did not respond to the newsroom’s questions.
MPs from Law and Justice (PiS) spoke about Włodzimierz Czarzasty’s dangerous ties during a press conference.
“Włodzimierz Czarzasty is currently the second-highest-ranking person in the state. For many years he was a Deputy Speaker and also a member of the Sejm’s Committee on Special Services. He participated in its meetings without access to top secret information, which is a situation that violates the law. Every member of the Sejm’s Committee on Special Services is required to hold a security clearance at the ‘top secret’ level. One must ask what the special services were doing at the time, what Minister Siemoniak was doing, and what the representatives of the services were doing, who today are taking actions that harass, among others, former Prime Minister Mariusz Błaszczak and Prof. Sławomir Cenckiewicz,” said MP Andrzej Śliwka.
The politician added that the heads of the services, “instead of dealing with the fact that an unauthorized person was sitting on a body where top secret information was being shared, are engaging in political farce.”
“In the material broadcast by TV Republika, a very important issue appears – not only concerning the lack of clearance on the part of Speaker Czarzasty as not only the second-highest-ranking person in the state, but also a member of the Sejm’s Committee on Special Services. It also mentions his relationship with his former company, of which he was a co-owner, and a Russian woman linked to the Kremlin. Speaker Czarzasty may therefore have failed to complete the security questionnaire because, in order to obtain a clearance, one must disclose all contacts, including with foreign nationals, as well as business activities,” he recalled.
“We demand…”
The PiS MP also presented demands toward the second-highest-ranking person in the state.
“We demand clear explanations from Speaker Czarzasty regarding these situations. We expect Speaker Czarzasty to complete this security questionnaire. He is the second-highest-ranking person in the state. His contacts with people linked to the Kremlin may raise serious doubts. There cannot be a situation in which, looking at the current geopolitical landscape, we see Russia’s imperial policy threatening our security, while the second-highest-ranking person in the state has for many years cooperated with people linked to the Kremlin. These are absolutely scandalous and unprecedented situations. We will demand that the Speaker complete the questionnaire so that there are no doubts, and we will also expect information from the special services as to why they turned a blind eye to these irregularities,” he announced.
As Śliwka reported, Law and Justice (PiS) will also seek explanations from the chair of the Committee on Special Services “to indicate how it happened that an unauthorized person took part in meetings.”
“Today, Czarzasty should resign or explain himself,” he declared.
He also recalled that “this is yet another situation we would not have learned about if it were not for independent media such as TV Republika.”
MP Mariusz Krystian pointed out that the information revealed by Republika is “incredibly outrageous.”
“This must be repeated endlessly, because all of it concerns the security of the Polish state, which is being treated in a dismissive manner by the December 13 coalition. One must keep in mind many other outrageous cases related to the disregard for Polish security by the highest-ranking officials in the state. The case of the Ukrainian assistant to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the case of the famous photos of Minister Dariusz Klimczak at the control center of strategic lines, or the issue of sabotage on the Polish रेलवे. In the Polish public debate, we have a festival of accusations of pro-Russianism. Politicians of the ruling coalition excel at this, constantly attacking Law and Justice (PiS), their political rivals. What has been revealed indicates that this pro-Russianism is on the side of the December 13 coalition politicians. We have the principal figure of this pro-Russianism, namely the second-highest-ranking person in the state, Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty,” he said.
He added that “there cannot be a situation in which a member of the Committee on Special Services does not complete a security questionnaire – that fact alone is an absolute scandal.”
“As the PiS parliamentary group, we will demand decisive explanations on this matter. The public must receive clear information, a clear signal. We must know that the Polish state is secure. If the second-highest-ranking person in the state does not explain these kinds of connections and does not complete this questionnaire, it will cast doubt on the security of the Polish state,” he concluded.