“For two years, there has been speculation, especially on TVN, that I fled the country, that I’m abroad in Budapest. Why have you been lying for two years? Why have you spent two years trying to destroy the biggest economic process? Who paid you for that?” said Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Daniel Obajtek during a rally in front of the building of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw.
Rally in Defense of Obajtek
Former Orlen CEO and current Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Daniel Obajtek lost his immunity in the European Parliament, paving the way for the Polish prosecutor’s office to press charges against him. The case concerns two contracts for detective services signed by Orlen during his tenure as CEO. The politician is scheduled to be questioned today at the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw. A rally in his defense began at 11:30 a.m. Members of the Gazeta Polska Clubs gathered in large numbers. The politician delivered a speech to those assembled outside the prosecutor’s office. The crowd chanted slogans such as “We stand with Obajtek” and “We are with you.”
“I am very happy you are here. It’s a great honor for me to stand with you, that you came and appreciate the entire legacy of our national corporation. You recognize that we defended the Polish economy, moved away from Russian oil and gas, and secured our country in case of war. Our predictions came true. You can see what is happening in Ukraine. Today, only political decisions are being made; neither the results nor the strength of the Polish corporation matter. I refer you to the publication of the Minister of State Assets, who recently partially dismissed the Supervisory Board, claiming that no decisions were being made. This is what our national corporation looks like today—a company that had the potential to acquire more assets abroad, a company meant to continue securing Poland’s interests. Today, this is not being done, and I’m the one facing charges. For what? For daring to break up intermediary firms trading in oil? This is the result of cutting off the post-communist establishment from gas and oil purchases, from intermediaries in bioadditives, and many other things,” said the Law and Justice (PiS) MEP.
He reminded the audience that under his leadership, Orlen became “a stable corporation now worth 100 billion zlotys.”
“Wouldn’t you also have ordered certain matters to be checked when company data was being leaked? When your office is bugged and money is flowing toward black PR? And when there are hundreds of publications aimed at preventing the merger of Orlen and Lotos? At a time when Mr. Sienkiewicz and companies linked to him take 14 million from Orlen for consulting and those documents disappear? Wouldn’t you have hired various firms to investigate this? That’s standard practice for all international corporations. It’s nothing new. Instead of calling me to the prosecutor’s office as a witness, I’m summoned as a suspect who acted on behalf of the security of the Polish state and Orlen. I wasn’t the one who made those documents public—Donald Tusk did. He was the one who revealed them. We can all see who is breaking the law in Poland,” he emphasized.
The politician declared that he “will always appear when summoned by the authorities, no matter what those authorities are.”
Obajtek to TVN: Why Are You Lying?
Obajtek also commented on TVN’s reporting targeting him personally.
“For two years, there has been speculation, especially on TVN, that I fled the country, that I’m abroad in Budapest. Why have you been lying for two years? Why have you spent two years trying to destroy the biggest economic process? Who paid you for that? Why don’t you show that Orlen is now selling tenement houses in Kraków or Wrocław?” he stated.
Referring to the current situation in Orlen, he said that there is “persecution and destruction of people” taking place.
“These were the people who built the largest corporation in Central Europe. I will always defend them, whether I’m free or in prison. I will never break. I don’t belong to the post-communist or Warsaw salon that carried out the business policies of the post-communist elite. I ask Orlen’s management: why are you selling off properties? Why didn’t you buy the German refinery? Why didn’t you move toward Romania? Why are these gentlemen not making decisions? How can we build a strong economy and secure the state’s energy interests if no decisions are made?” Obajtek said.