An MP from Poland’s main opposition party has been arrested as part of an investigation into the alleged misuse of state funds.
The country’s Internal Security Agency detained Dariusz Matecki, who represents the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, on Friday morning, two days after he voluntarily waived his parliamentary immunity.
Prosecutors are looking into alleged irregularities in the use of Poland’s justice fund, a special reserve designed to help victims of crimes, under the right-wing PiS-led government that ruled the country between 2015 and 2023.
There are allegations that the fund was redirected to support party political activities when Zbigniew Ziobro, the former justice minister and prosecutor general, was in charge of the department, the Polish Press Agency reported.
Poland’s current ruling coalition, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s liberal Civic Coalition (KO) party, has opened several investigations into alleged wrongdoing by the previous government.
On Thursday, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński was stripped of his parliamentary immunity, along with former defense minister Mariusz Błaszczak. The party has been accused of using Israeli-made surveillance technology to spy on political opponents.
Matecki, who is 36 and from Szczecin in north-western Poland, is suspected of rigging grant competitions to favor his associates, engaging in money laundering activities and entering into fictitious employment contracts with the state-run organization that manages the country’s forests.
He is expected to be formally accused on Friday of six charges, which could lead to a prison sentence of up to ten years. His arrest was approved by a vote in parliament and prosecutors said he needed to be arrested to prevent any potential obstruction of the investigation.
In parliament on Wednesday, Matecki accused Tusk and his government of destroying democracy, calling his forthcoming arrest a “political execution,” Polish Radio reported.
