As part of the investigations, 62 individuals have been charged, and 149 notifications of potential criminal activity have been submitted to the prosecutor’s office. Prime Minister Donald Tusk presented the progress in addressing the abuses of the previous government during a press conference today. The National Revenue Administration (KAS) is conducting investigations in 90 units, involving a total of 100 billion PLN! The right-wing United Right government created a whole system of abuses—a closed network—but every irregularity will be explained by an independent judiciary, and the funds will be recovered! An agreement has been signed in this matter.
Agreement on Recovering State Treasury Assets
The Minister of the Interior and Administration, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General signed an agreement today regarding the protection of the State Treasury’s interest in managing public funds between 2016 and 2023.
Coordination between these ministries is essential to effectively and quickly recover the vast amounts of money for which there is evidence and belief that they were spent improperly, illegally, or directly appropriated by individuals, organizations, and institutions that constituted the broader elite of power during the PiS era — Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at the press conference.
The agreement signed by the Ministers also includes mutual training of services. This will enable officers to more effectively pursue the crimes committed by the previous government.
We want the National Revenue Administration to assist in acquiring additional necessary competencies, for example, for police officers or the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau. This will allow for more effective investigation of financial flows, certain schemes, and mechanisms that have been revealed so far — the Prime Minister added.
One of the agreement’s elements is also to draw up proposals and implement mechanisms that will prevent similar incidents in the future.
The final result of the ministers’ work will be a set of proposals that will prevent future abuses of power, positions, or connections for personal gain, regardless of who is in power — emphasized the Prime Minister.
200 KAS Inspectors Investigating Irregularities
Prime Minister D. Tusk thanked the employees and officers of the National Revenue Administration (KAS) for their efforts in uncovering irregularities and crimes committed by their predecessors.
Thanks to the powers they have, the directors of tax administration chambers have been conducting proceedings in 90 units and entities under 17 ministries of our government since February 2024. Every day, 200 inspectors work on these cases — said the Prime Minister.
The proceedings conducted by KAS concern a huge sum—100 billion PLN of public funds! Investigations are still ongoing.
The suspected amount of public funds—identified not by politicians or commentators but by the National Revenue Administration—requires investigation because there are reasons to believe that these funds were spent illegally, in violation of procedures or regulations, or to the detriment of public interests — emphasized the Prime Minister.
Significant Abuses by Predecessors—Notifications to the Prosecutor’s Office
As a result of KAS’s audits, over 60 notifications of suspected criminal activity, involving 3.2 billion PLN, have been submitted so far. The cases are being handled by the National Prosecutor’s Office, the Financial Discipline Ombudsman, and the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The amount of irregularities already covered by these notifications to the prosecutor’s office is documented, and thanks to the cooperation between the tax administration and the prosecutor’s office, we will recover—3.2 billion PLN. These are funds that are very carefully described, and we will effectively demand their return — assured Donald Tusk.
This is just the beginning. Additional evidence and descriptions of potential crimes are being gathered. However, the scale of the abuses is so large that the services need time to thoroughly prepare the evidence.
In the remaining scope of identified irregularities, they have already been precisely described to the amount of over 5 billion PLN. Notifications in these cases will be submitted to the appropriate authorities gradually — the Prime Minister stated.
The first attempts to recover improperly spent funds have already been made by the services.
If it is not possible to recover the funds from the institutions or organizations, we will recover them from the management members, in accordance with the law — emphasized Prime Minister Tusk.
To date, 149 notifications of potential criminal activity have been submitted to the prosecutor’s office.
The level of degeneration and sense of impunity exceeded all boundaries. Jarosław Kaczyński and his team really believed that this network was truly closed, that they would win the next elections, and that no one would have access to the information from which we are slowly building this picture of abuses, which today are assessed by the National Revenue Administration at 100 billion PLN — Prime Minister Tusk highlighted.
In anticipation of future claims, 112 million PLN has already been secured in the accounts of individuals under investigation by the prosecutor’s office.
Public Funds for Election Campaigns
The previous government financed election campaigns for specific candidates of their party using public funds. This occurred, for example, through various events or picnics organized by ministries with public funds. Currently, such irregularities have been discovered in 9 ministries. The services will work crosswise to thoroughly document the financial flows and violations in this process.
What stands out the most is the deliberate strategy of using public funds. These were ministry funds or funds that flowed from ministries to foundations led by politicians or their close associates. (…) In these schemes, PiS was very creative. In the end (…) deputy ministers and ministers of PiS, who were also candidates in parliamentary elections, always concentrated these funds in the places that were their constituencies — explained the Prime Minister.
Donald Tusk recalled the situation involving Krzysztof Szczucki, former head of the Government Legislation Center. He employed six people who performed no work and were involved in his election campaign.
The people who pretended to be officials working for government legislation deleted emails and exchanges of information between themselves on their computers, but they forgot that there are backups in the Prime Minister’s Office and in ministries. These are dozens of emails from officials who were theoretically responsible for government legislation. The content includes: “buy a bottle for the guy who is hanging the banner for our candidate.” (…) This type of campaign management is, of course, illegal — said the Prime Minister.
Disappearing Funds in the Prime Minister’s Office
The Prime Minister has funds at his disposal that should be spent on key and urgent situations, such as in the case of floods. However, in recent years, there has been a mass expenditure of public funds on purposes that were not supported by any reasonable justifications in the Prime Minister’s Office.
In 2023, various foundations, associations, clubs, and religious organizations—overwhelmingly directly linked to the ruling party and its backers—were granted 524 targeted grants totaling 370 million PLN. I’m not talking about the government. I’m talking about one Prime Minister’s Office. Just in 2023, 370 million PLN — emphasized Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
These funds were often spent without open tenders or offers. Only two foundations (the “Freedom and Independence” Foundation, founded by Minister M. Dworczyk, and the “Aid to Poles in the East” Foundation) were awarded 325 grants totaling 190 million PLN between 2020 and 2023.
A common procedure, for example, was setting the order of applications. There were some procedures for awarding grants, for example, for municipalities. Municipalities applied because they knew that whoever applied first had the best chance. But the municipalities that did not fit the preferences of a particular Minister did not apply because he was not a candidate there. So they, without any reason, without any procedures, fell to the end of the line — Donald Tusk recounted.
In 2020, despite the pandemic and justified expenses for fighting COVID-19, 22 million PLN was spent from the Prime Minister’s discretionary funds, while in the election year, it was already 265 million PLN.
Sponsoring PiS-Affiliated Media
Massive amounts of public funds were also siphoned off through advertising contracts between State Treasury companies or public administration and media closely associated with PiS.
No objective criteria justified the transfer of funds to these media. The true criteria were purely political. We won’t be helpless in this matter either — declared the Prime Minister.
The agreement signed today will lead to legislative changes that will ensure the effective protection of the State Treasury’s interests in the future.
Other Examples of Abuses
There are many other abuses related to the expenditure of public funds, occurring in all ministries. Prime Minister Donald Tusk mentioned, among others, the grant system overseen by Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński, the purchase of hotels by government institutions without clear purposes, or apartments purchased by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau for private use.
We will inform about these matters progressively, especially because I know that people are waiting for it—when we will be able to report that we are recovering the money. This is one of the main tasks for the ministers and their services today—and the agreement signed today serves this purpose — declared Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The Prime Minister also announced that more information on the progress of the investigations into the abuses of the previous government would be released every week. This is the result of the Prime Minister’s recent meetings with each of the ministries.
