Prosecutor suspended after recording shows discussion of case against ex-justice minister

Poland’s prosecutor general and justice minister, Adam Bodnar, has suspended a prosecutor after a recording emerged purportedly showing the prosecutor discussing discontinuing legal proceedings launched against Bodnar’s predecessor Zbigniew Ziobro.

The development represents a further stage in the fallout from testimony this week by a former justice ministry official alleging corruption in the distribution of funds when Ziobro was in charge. It was that whistleblower who made the recording that led to today’s suspension.

A justice ministry fund to support victims of crime was instead used for political purposes through rigged contests under the orders of former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, says an official who oversaw the fund.

Ziobro’s party has denied the claims https://t.co/Adgbk9lwT1

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 23, 2024

Yesterday, news website Onet published an extract from what it says are 50 hours of recordings made by the former official (who can be named only as Tomasz M. under Polish privacy law because he has himself been charged in relation to the alleged abuses of power by officials in Ziobro’s ministry).

It purports to show a prosecutor, Jakub Romelczyk, discussing with Marcin Romanowski, then a deputy justice minister and party colleague of Ziobro, a case in which a then opposition MP had sought charges against Ziobro for alleged crimes relating to money from the ministry’s so-called Justice Fund.

In the extract, Romelczyk tells Romanowski that they “will definitely refuse [to initiate proceedings against Ziobro] because I don’t see any grounds to initiate proceedings”. There “are no features of a crime, right?” he added.

During Ziobro’s time in office from 2015 to 2023 as part of the Law and justice (PiS) government, many experts criticised the fact that he held the position of justice minister and prosecutor general. They argued that this gave him too much influence over the judicial process.

Jeśli jeszcze się zastanawiacie o co chodziło w słowach, że sądy są „ostatnią barykadą” to widać tu jak na dłoni – ostatnią barykadą w politycznym skręcaniu śledztw.

Więcej na @onetpl https://t.co/Y2ZZfOc9N3 pic.twitter.com/vxa3FZDwFg

— Bartłomiej Przymusiński (@bprzymusinski) May 23, 2024

Today, Bodnar – who is part of the government that replaced PiS in power in December 2023 and also holds the same two roles as Ziobro did – announced that he was suspending Romelczyk for six months.

The decision was made due to the content of the conversation between Romelczyk and Romanowski, said Bodnar’s spokeswoman, Anna Adamiak, in a statement.

“The content of the recorded telephone conversation, in which prosecutor Jakub Romelczyk determines the manner in which the proceedings…will be concluded prior to the screening of the case and the decision on the merits, indicates that he may have committed a disciplinary offence,” she added.

Prokurator Generalny Adama Bodnar podjął decyzję o zawieszeniu prokuratora Jakuba Romelczyka w czynnościach służbowych.

Decyzja jest natychmiast wykonalna.

Szczegóły w komunikacie: ⬇️https://t.co/JoNXag2Chm

— Prokuratura (@PK_GOV_PL) May 24, 2024

On Wednesday, Tomasz M. gave testimony in parliament alleging that money from the Justice Fund – which is supposed to be used to support victims of crime – was actually used for political purposes. He claimed that the entire operation was carried out under Ziobro’s oversight.

Ziobro’s party, Sovereign Poland (Suwerenna Polska), which was a junior coalition partner in the PiS-led government, strongly denied those claims, calling them “nonsense and manipulation”. Ziobro, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, has not commented.

Earlier this year, Ziobro’s home was among those searched on the orders of prosecutors investigating alleged misspending of the Justice Fund. They have charged at least five people already, including Tomasz M., and are seeking to have some MPs stripped of parliamentary immunity to also face charges.

During PiS’s period in power, experts and opposition figures regularly accused prosecutors of acting under political orders from Ziobro in their handling of cases.

The homes of former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro and other figures from his party have been raided today on the orders of prosecutors.

Four unnamed individuals have also been detained as part of an investigation into alleged abuse of power https://t.co/VxIXo7fA1m

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 26, 2024

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Main image credit: Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)