CBA arrests director from President's Office — Szefernaker attacks Czarzasty
CBA agents arrested Anna P. and Piotr M. in connection with irregularities at the Polish National Foundation. The President's Chief of Staff accused Marshal Czarzasty of politicising the proceedings.
Szefernaker responds to Czarzasty following CBA arrests
According to wiadomosci.wp.pl, on Tuesday morning agents of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested in Warsaw Anna P. — director of the President's Events Office — and Piotr M., a commentator for Republika television. Both individuals were taken to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Rzeszów, which is conducting an investigation into irregularities at the Polish National Foundation.
Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the minister coordinating special services, confirmed the arrests on Wednesday and published a statement on the X platform. "At this stage, these are the only details I can provide," he wrote.
Marshal of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty commented on the matter, telling journalists that CBA actions did not surprise him. "I have the impression that this is a group that has a certain mentality, and all these actions that are being carried out result from exactly that mentality," he assessed. In doing so, he listed a series of accusations against the president's entourage: alleged trafficking in pardons, suspicious amendments by Minister Zbigniew Bogucki in the Zondacrypto affair, bribes, and — as he put it — "writing legislation on Ibiza".
Czarzasty further suggested that the arrests on Wednesday were only the "beginning" of similar actions against the President's Office, emphasising that word.
On Wednesday afternoon, Paweł Szefernaker, Chief of the President's Office of the Republic of Poland, issued a statement in which he rejected these words. "The Marshal of the Sejm, the second-highest person in the state, compromising his office, announced further strikes against the President's Office and suggested further arrests. This directly indicates the politicisation of these proceedings," Szefernaker stated.
The Chief of the Office assessed that the marshal's statement constituted "complete devastation of state authority and trust in its institutions", and posed the question of who passes information about ongoing proceedings to Czarzasty. "The Marshal of the Sejm has no right to know the investigation plans. On whose political orders are decisions in these matters being made?" he asked.
Szefernaker also questioned the justification for the arrest itself. "The arrest at 6 a.m. of the director from the President's Office, who did not obstruct the investigation nor evaded giving testimony or participating in other activities in proceedings that have been ongoing for nine years, is an attempt to demonstrate the power of those in power," he wrote, announcing a "firm response" to any attempt at political exploitation of state bodies.
Source: Google News PL