2024-08-27, 18:37 PAP/Editorial Office
After 5:00 PM on Tuesday, MP and former Deputy Minister of Justice Michał Woś left the National Prosecutor’s Office building. He reported that he had submitted a very extensive position in the investigation concerning the Justice Fund, that the charges brought against him were “ineffective”, and that the whole matter was “political repression”.
The National Prosecutor’s Office announced on Tuesday afternoon that the prosecutor had charged Woś with “overstepping his authority and failing to fulfil his obligations by transferring PLN 25 million from the Justice Fund to purchase Pegasus software for the Central Anticorruption Bureau.”
On Tuesday morning, Sovereign Poland politician and PiS MP Michał Woś appeared at the National Prosecutor’s Office in connection with an investigation into irregularities in spending money from the Justice Fund. After more than seven hours, Woś left the PK building.
– I informed him that I do not recognize the action of an unauthorized body, and therefore he does not have the status of a suspect. Prosecutors think otherwise, but this is their right, and I also maintain my right. I did not provide explanations in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure, but I did provide a very extensive position – the same as I said at the immunity committee in the Sejm and what I said from the Sejm rostrum – Woś told journalists after leaving the prosecutor’s office.
“Ill-appointed usurpers”
He noted that in this position he indicates that the prosecutor’s office is “politicized” and these are “actions of a political repression nature”. – Shocking the public opinion is only for the purposes of political use – said Woś, referring to this case.
In his opinion, the charges brought against him by the prosecutor’s office on Tuesday were “ineffectively brought”. – In connection with the fact that the prosecutors acted as unauthorized bodies, I also filed, together with my lawyer, motions to exonerate the prosecutors who carried out today’s pseudo-activities – the MP noted. He added that “improperly appointed usurpers” are operating in the case, because “the national prosecutor is Dariusz Barski”.
In the case of Woś, whose immunity was lifted by the Sejm on 28 June in connection with the investigation, the evidence includes, among others, the NIK audit report, the explanations of Tomasz M. (one of the suspects in the investigation – note), as well as secured documentation from the Ministry of Justice. In the opinion of the PK, this material justifies the suspicion that Woś, who was authorized to dispose of the Fund, “acting in order to achieve financial benefits, jointly and in agreement with other established persons, failed to fulfill the duties entrusted to him”.
The prosecutor’s office estimates that Woś, when concluding an agreement with the head of the CBA to transfer PLN 25 million from the fund to purchase Pegasus, knew that the CBA “did not meet the conditions to obtain such financial support from this source”. According to the PK, the CBA Act indicates that this service is financed from the state budget; moreover, the decisions to purchase Pegasus were made before the regulation came into force in 2017, in which the head of the Ministry of Justice permitted the transfer of funds from the Justice Fund outside the competition.
A multi-threaded investigation into the Justice Fund
Woś emphasizes that every action he took in this case was in accordance with the law. – The prosecutor’s office did not prove any signs of a prohibited act, did not prove the action was aimed at achieving financial or personal benefits, did not prove any damage, especially damage of a large size. Therefore, I will tell you with full responsibility that I would proudly make such a decision again, I would grant this funding again, so that criminals, paedophiles, thieves, murderers, members of organized crime groups could be prosecuted by the Polish state, as they deserved – said Woś in the Sejm at the end of June.
The PK investigation into the Justice Fund, which has been ongoing since February, is multi-threaded. It is being conducted, among other things, into the abuse of power and failure to perform duties by the Minister of Justice and ministry officials, who were responsible for managing, distributing and settling funds from the Justice Fund. The Fund is primarily intended to help victims of crime, as well as, among other things, post-penitentiary assistance.
In the opinion of the Polish Justice Fund, financial support was provided in a discretionary and arbitrary manner from the Fund to beneficiaries of programmes that were unrelated to the objectives of the Justice Fund, which was to the detriment of the public interest – the State Treasury – and private interest, which resulted in limited availability of funds for eligible entities.
