President Andrzej Duda has not yet received a response from Prime Minister Donald Tusk regarding his request for clarification on the interrogation of Barbara Skrzypek, presidential advisor Błażej Poboży stated on Saturday. He also suggested that the investigation in which Skrzypek was questioned was reopened for political reasons.
Tusk Ignores the Letter
Barbara Skrzypek, a long-time associate of Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński, passed away on March 15. Just three days earlier, she had been questioned in connection with the so-called “Two Towers” case. The interrogation was conducted by Prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek, who is overseeing the investigation. President Duda sent an official letter to the Prime Minister requesting clarification on the matter.
“So far, the President has not received a response from the head of the Polish government to the official letter he sent regarding the clarification of all the circumstances surrounding this very questionable, in terms of standards, interrogation of a witness in a key political case. The mere fact that the case is being handled by one of the most politically motivated prosecutors in Poland is, at the very least, controversial,” Poboży said in an interview with Polish Radio Trójka.
He also claimed that the investigation into the “Two Towers” case, currently being handled by the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office, was resumed for political purposes.
Tusk Escapes to Platform X
On Tuesday, March 18, President Duda sent a letter to the Prime Minister seeking explanations regarding Barbara Skrzypek’s interrogation. In the President’s view, the case is disturbing, raises serious concerns, and also has a “state-level” dimension. He expressed hope for a proper explanation and a thorough investigation. The following day, the Prime Minister responded via Platform X (formerly Twitter) but did not address the issue at hand.
The investigation into the suspected defrauding of Austrian businessman Gerald Birgfellner has been conducted since early February by the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office. The case concerns the planned construction of two skyscrapers on land in Warsaw owned by the company Srebrna. On March 12, in relation to this case, Barbara Skrzypek was questioned at the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office. Skrzypek had been a board member of the Lech Kaczyński Institute, a key stakeholder in Srebrna (holding 5,883 shares). She died three days after the interrogation. A preliminary autopsy revealed that the cause of death was a heart attack. A separate investigation into the unintentional causing of her death is being conducted by the Warsaw-Praga District Prosecutor’s Office under the supervision of the National Prosecutor’s Office.