Information about the sale of land intended for the construction of the Central Communication Port (CPK) has shocked public opinion. Law and Justice (PiS) chairman Jarosław Kaczyński has suspended the former minister and deputy minister of agriculture from party membership. Politicians from the party claim that the buyer of the land had supported Civic Coalition initiatives. Although the authorities had known about the matter for some time, an investigation was only launched yesterday. Here is a step-by-step account of what is known so far.
According to wp.pl, just before the United Right left office, the Ministry of Agriculture, headed by Robert Telus, approved the sale of the plot to the vice president of the company Dawtona for 22.8 million PLN. The land’s value is estimated at up to 400 million PLN. The 160-hectare plot located in the village of Zabłotnia in Mazovia lies on the planned route of the High-Speed Rail line to CPK. Since 2008, the land had been leased by Dawtona Sp. z o.o., an agri-food processing company. In 2021, Polish Waters indicated that a natural watercourse runs through the site, which could restrict real estate transactions. In 2023, the National Agricultural Support Centre (KOWR) reportedly granted approval for the sale. The purchase agreement, worth 22.8 million PLN, was signed on December 1, 2023, with Piotr Wielgomas, vice president of Dawtona, as the buyer. Later, the CPK company asked KOWR to repurchase the plot, but the buyer refused consent.
Slow start to the investigation
Government plenipotentiary for CPK Maciej Lasek announced that a report had been filed with the prosecutor’s office in July 2025 and that proceedings were underway. Niezależna.pl verified this information and found that the report had actually been filed on September 18 of this year. Prosecutor Piotr Skiba, spokesperson for the Warsaw Prosecutor’s Office, stated that the case was only registered (assigned a case number) on October 8, and the investigation was initiated yesterday. Last week, the CPK president was questioned again by the police. After publication, Niezależna.pl received a correction from CPK, clarifying that the report had been filed on July 30, 2025, at the National Prosecutor’s Office at ul. Postępu 3. Available information suggests that Lasek likely filed the report there on July 30, and the National Prosecutor’s Office transferred it to the District Prosecutor’s Office more than a month and a half later, where it was registered only on October 8.
Only yesterday (October 27) did the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office announce the initiation of an investigation into “actions aimed at obtaining financial gain and abuse of authority by public officials – employees of the National Agricultural Support Centre, Warsaw Regional Branch – consisting of violations of the Act on the Management of State Property and the Act on the Central Communication Port, which led to the sale of real estate constituting the former Zabłotnia estate to a designated private individual instead of transferring it to the Central Communication Port Sp. z o.o., thereby harming the public interest.”
Yesterday on TVN24, Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said, “The prosecution must investigate and ask itself whether, in this land purchase, there were any signs of corruption.”
Negotiations, external law firm, no buyback right
Interestingly, the CPK company announced that it had earlier tried to recover the land through negotiations. Government representatives argue that the company had been aware of and investigating the case since the new board took office. Maciej Lasek said that “the materials were handed over to an external law firm to assess whether they provided grounds for filing a notice of a suspected crime.” The prosecutor’s office was informed only later.
KOWR issued a statement on the matter, clarifying that the land sale agreement signed by the previous management contained no buyback clause. “Since March 2010, KOWR (formerly ANR) has not had the right of repurchase under the current regulations (Constitutional Tribunal ruling K 8/08, published). The sale agreement, concluded by the previous KOWR management with the consent of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on December 1, 2023, contains no provisions that would currently allow for a contractual buyback. In August 2025, KOWR approached the buyer to resell the property for transfer to CPK. To this day, no consent has been granted,” the statement reads.
“I had no knowledge of this”
By decision of PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński, former Minister of Agriculture Robert Telus and former Deputy Minister Rafał Romanowski were suspended from party membership pending clarification. Robert Telus declared that he had no knowledge of the sale of the land and that he had long opposed the sale of state-owned land. He claimed that the matter was a political attack related to his opposition to the Mercosur agreement. He also spoke about this on TV Republika, saying, “As minister, I had no knowledge that such a plot was being sold. You know me well – if I had known, I would have opposed the sale. I support the protection of Polish land,” said Robert Telus on TV Republika. Host Michał Jelonek noted that the Mercosur topic was a separate matter. When pressed further, Telus said that Deputy Minister Romanowski had handled the case.
MP Romanowski addressed the issue on X, writing, “I am fully ready to cooperate with all competent institutions conducting the investigation. I want all doubts to be clarified as soon as possible.”
Unanswered questions
Former government plenipotentiary for CPK Marcin Horała pointed out several aspects of the case, emphasizing that under PiS rule, CPK had filed motions to block the sale of the plot. He also noted that “the main beneficiary in this case is a sponsor of Campus Polska, who supported Rafał Trzaskowski in the recent campaign.”
PiS spokesperson Rafał Bochenek also issued a statement on the matter.
Several key questions remain unanswered:
- Was Robert Telus truly unaware of the sale?
- Is it possible that a minister would not be informed about such a significant transaction?
- Did KOWR act lawfully?
- Who exactly decided on the sale?
- What were the terms of the agreement?
- Why was the land sold just before the change of government?
- Why was it sold for only 22.8 million PLN? And in what way did the buyer support Civic Coalition initiatives?