The National Prosecutor’s Office has announced new activities in the investigation into irregularities at the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves. Investigators have issued decisions to bring charges against the former president of RARS, Michał K., as well as Paweł Sz. “The court, at the request of the prosecutor, has applied temporary arrest against Michał K., which will allow for the initiation of a search for him under an arrest warrant,” the National Prosecutor’s Office reported.
Michał K. / Leszek Szymański /PAP
Michał K. and Paweł Sz. were charged with participating in an organized criminal group and exceeding their authority and failing to fulfill their duties in order to gain financial benefits. The whereabouts of both men are unknown, therefore investigators have filed applications for their temporary arrest, which provides grounds for issuing arrest warrants.
The District Court of Katowice-Wschód accepted the motion of the prosecutor’s office in the case of Michał K. In the case of Paweł Sz., it ruled that temporary arrest was not necessary, especially since the man had filed a motion for a safe conduct. The prosecutor’s office wants to appeal this decision.
The investigation into irregularities in RARS was initiated on December 1, 2023, at the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw. In April, it was taken over by the Silesian Branch of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice. The proceedings concern the purchase of goods for the Agency in the period from February 23, 2021 to November 27, 2023.
In July, two people were charged in the investigation into irregularities at RARS. They were the director and the manager of the Agency’s purchasing office. “The prosecutor charged the suspects with exceeding their powers in connection with performing public functions, which were to consist in preferential treatment of some RARS contractors in connection with the implementation of an EU grant in the amount of EUR 114 million for the delivery of power generators for the needs of Ukraine. These are qualified acts under Article 231 § 2 of the Penal Code, punishable by up to 10 years of imprisonment,” the National Prosecutor’s Office informed at the time.
Illustrative photo /Wojciech Olkuśnik /PAP
The Government Agency for Strategic Reserves was established at the turn of 2020 and 2021. It replaced the Material Reserves Agency established in 1996. Both agencies played a significant role in combating the Covid-19 epidemic in Poland.
In early June, Onet reported that “during the PiS era, the authorities entered into a kind of alliance with the creator of the Red is Bad clothing brand, Paweł Szopa, to embezzle public money on a scale never before described”, and “for the team of former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the entrepreneur became a supplier of everything – from protective equipment during the pandemic to power generators during war”.
According to the website, in just three years, transfers worth half a billion zloty were transferred to Szopa’s accounts, and he received orders from the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves without a tender.
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Former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki commented on the information provided by the National Prosecutor’s Office on social media.
“Today we have another act of perfidious political revenge by D. Tusk’s gang. This time, the victim was the former president of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves, Michał Kuczmierowski,” wrote the Law and Justice politician. In his opinion, filing a motion for arrest “will paralyze the state in the future, when decisions will have to be made quickly in crisis situations.”
“I am fully convinced of M. Kuczmierowski’s honesty, which he will certainly prove during the trial. Today, it is clear that the reforms he has undertaken and the actions of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves are extremely distasteful to the current, destructive government, which is destroying everything and everyone in its path who serve Poland well,” wrote Morawiecki. “The smear campaign against M. Kuczmierowski and his associates is based on lies, manipulations and half-truths, which the coalition of December 13 has mastered to perfection. In the end, however, the truth will defend itself,” he assessed.
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Prime Minister Donald Tusk commented on the actions of the prosecutor’s office and the court in the case of Michał K.
“The court has decided. There will be an arrest warrant for the former head of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves,” the head of government wrote on social media. “He is Morawiecki’s right-hand man, the fixer of respirators and generators. Wherever he hides, justice will catch up with him,” he assessed.
