Is the second most important person in the state, with access to the Republic of Poland’s most closely guarded secrets, avoiding vetting by Polish security services? Journalists from the program “Ściśle Jawne” on TV Republika have revealed shocking details about the business environment surrounding Włodzimierz Czarzasty. In the background of the Speaker of the Sejm’s family interests appear figures from the post-communist nomenklatura, officers trained in Moscow, and a mysterious Russian woman linked to an auction house controlled by people close to Putin.
Włodzimierz Czarzasty, leader of the Left and current Speaker of the Sejm, by virtue of his office has access to the state’s most secret documents. As the authors of “Ściśle Jawne” have established, however, the politician has for years effectively avoided security clearance procedures. Moreover, despite serving since November 2023 on the parliamentary committee for special services, Czarzasty has not submitted a personal security questionnaire to the Internal Security Agency (ABW). Why? The answer may lie in a web of business and social connections built since the 1990s by circles associated with the former Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).
Nomenklatura Roots of a Fortune
The journalistic investigation by Republika goes back to the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, when Agencja Muza was created—the crown jewel of Czarzasty’s business ventures.
The founding capital came from “Transakcja,” a company staffed by influential members of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR), whose purpose was to privatize state assets for the communist nomenklatura. Among the founders were figures such as Wiesław Huszcza and Marek Siwiec.
In 1991, Włodzimierz Czarzasty became head of Muza. Although he formally withdrew from direct management, control of the company was taken over by his wife, Małgorzata Czarzasty. It is Muza’s subsidiaries, such as PDK Hotele, that lead to the most troubling Russian connections.
Russian Link in Spała
A key piece of the puzzle is the luxury Hotel Mościcki in Spała, controlled by the company PDK. Until November 2019, Włodzimierz Czarzasty himself sat on its governing bodies. He resigned just before assuming the post of Deputy Speaker of the Sejm. Who replaced him? In the ownership structure (via the company ERA Europe) appeared Svetlana Chestnykh (Swietłana Czestnych)—a Russian woman with a Polish passport, who moves with ease in the world of art and… Russian oligarchs.
As revealed on the program, Chestnykh is no случай investor. She is a long-time expert of the Russian Auction House in St. Petersburg. It was this auction house that offered for sale items belonging to the extreme nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, as well as documents bearing the signatures of Putin and the Stalinist criminal Lavrentiy Beria.
“This entity was founded, among others, by Sberbank, controlled by the Kremlin, the largest Russian bank,” warn TV Republika journalists.
Sberbank is headed by German Gref, a trusted associate of Vladimir Putin who is subject to Western sanctions.
Moscow Training and a “Tsarist Residence”
Another business partner of the Czarzasty family in the hotel venture is Michał Słoniewski—a figure with a rich career in the Polish People’s Republic. A former inspector of the PZPR Central Committee, in the 1980s he was sent to study at the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow. Documents from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) indicate that he was of interest to the Second Directorate of the General Staff (PRL military intelligence) and to the Military Information Services (WSI).
Cooperation between Słoniewski and Chestnykh resulted not only in hotel business ventures but also in publishing activities. In 2011, at the height of Donald Tusk’s government “reset” policy toward Russia, a book by them entitled “Spała – a Tsarist Residence” was published.
Chestnykh also published in Poland the book “Białowieża – a Tsarist Residence.” The publication was sponsored by the aforementioned Russian Auction House and the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Warsaw—an institution that, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, is widely regarded as an outpost of Russian propaganda and intelligence services. Shockingly, the book received honorary patronage not only from the Russian ambassador to Poland but also from the then Podlaskie Voivode from Civic Platform, Maciej Żywno—currently Deputy Speaker of the Senate representing the Third Way.
Questions Without Answers
The authors of the report pose a fundamental question: are the close business ties of the family of the second most important person in the state with individuals linked to the Kremlin and the Russian banking sector the reason why Włodzimierz Czarzasty avoids counterintelligence vetting?
“Why has Czarzasty not undergone the screening procedure? Perhaps he fears scrutiny of the connections we uncovered during our journalistic investigation,” the program’s authors conclude.
Neither Włodzimierz Czarzasty nor his wife Małgorzata responded to journalists’ questions about the nature of their relationship with Svetlana Chestnykh or about the lack of a security questionnaire. Michał Słoniewski has also remained silent. Meanwhile, companies linked to this network continue to operate, and PDK Hotele even applied for massive financing from the National Recovery Plan (KPO) funds, awarded by the current governing coalition. The funds were granted, although they have not yet been paid out.