Prosecutors investigating the possible abuse of a fund to support crime victims ordered searches of various properties across the country, the National Prosecutor's Office has reported. Four people have been arrested as part of the investigation.
In late January, Adam Bodnar, Poland's new justice minister and prosecutor general, established an investigative team at the National Prosecutor's Office to scrutinize how money from the Justice Fund (FS) was spent by the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government.
According to the Justice Ministry, the team was tasked with examining whether the fund was managed properly and whether it was spent in accordance with the law and its assumed purpose.
In particular, the investigative team will analyze notifications of possible criminal misuse of the fund sent to individual prosecutor's offices in the country in recent years, both from individuals and state institutions.
According to the Justice Ministry, the team was tasked with examining whether the fund was managed properly and whether it was spent in accordance with the law and its assumed purpose.
In particular, the investigative team will analyze notifications of possible criminal misuse of the fund sent to individual prosecutor's offices in the country in recent years, both from individuals and state institutions.
An important element of the investigative team's work is also a probe into the use of the Justice Fund (FS) to purchase the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware by the PiS government to carry out alleged surveillance on then opposition figures in Poland.
According to the report by a special Senate commission appointed to probe the Pegasus case in cooperation with the Supreme Audit Board (NIK), the spyware system was illegally purchased with "millions of zlotys" from the fund.
On Tuesday, Anna Adamiak, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General, told PAP: "At the request of prosecutors from the team appointed by the Prosecutor General in the National Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for examining the correct use of funds from the Justice Fund, search activities are underway."
She added that she could not provide any more information on the matter.
"We will not give away information on the locations or who owns these properties," Adamiak said.
The National Prosecutor's Office wrote on the X platform that searches were being carried out on Tuesday "in various places throughout the country."
"The activities are still ongoing. Their aim is to secure evidence, including documentation regarding FS," the post read.
According to Patryk Jaki, an MEP from Sovereign Poland and PiS's ally in the previous government, the searches were carried out on the property of Zbigniew Ziobro, former justice minister and prosecutor general, using “gangster” methods.
"On the order of neo-prosecutors (Prime Minister Donald) Tusk and Bodnar, the intelligence services broke into Z. Ziobro's house... They broke windows and destroyed the house," Jaki wrote on the X platform.
"All this took place while he was away and undergoing treatment for cancer," he added. "There was not even an attempt to contact him - he would have allowed entry and the phone number was known. However, it was intentional. 'Gangster's action'," Jaki wrote.
According to the report by a special Senate commission appointed to probe the Pegasus case in cooperation with the Supreme Audit Board (NIK), the spyware system was illegally purchased with "millions of zlotys" from the fund.
On Tuesday, Anna Adamiak, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General, told PAP: "At the request of prosecutors from the team appointed by the Prosecutor General in the National Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for examining the correct use of funds from the Justice Fund, search activities are underway."
She added that she could not provide any more information on the matter.
"We will not give away information on the locations or who owns these properties," Adamiak said.
The National Prosecutor's Office wrote on the X platform that searches were being carried out on Tuesday "in various places throughout the country."
"The activities are still ongoing. Their aim is to secure evidence, including documentation regarding FS," the post read.
According to Patryk Jaki, an MEP from Sovereign Poland and PiS's ally in the previous government, the searches were carried out on the property of Zbigniew Ziobro, former justice minister and prosecutor general, using “gangster” methods.
"On the order of neo-prosecutors (Prime Minister Donald) Tusk and Bodnar, the intelligence services broke into Z. Ziobro's house... They broke windows and destroyed the house," Jaki wrote on the X platform.
"All this took place while he was away and undergoing treatment for cancer," he added. "There was not even an attempt to contact him - he would have allowed entry and the phone number was known. However, it was intentional. 'Gangster's action'," Jaki wrote.
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