The meeting of the parliamentary investigative committee investigating the case of the so-called 2020 presidential election envelope; The first witness will be questioned: the former deputy prime minister in the PiS government, Jarosław Gowin. The committee also receives advice from an expert in the field of infectious diseases, prof.dr.ir. Robert Flsiak. We invite you to follow the reporting on the website wPolityce.pl

agenda

KO MP Dariusz Joński presented the agenda. The committee’s questions will first be answered by the chairman of the Polish Association of Epidemiologists and Doctors of Infectious Diseases, appointed expert, Prof. Robert Flsiak.

MP Paweł Jabłoński recalled that all questions must be included in the minutes. He adds that the committee members received a scan of the advice drawn up by the Senate by e-mail, but that the scan was carried out incorrectly. The MP requested the correct scan of the document.

Joński assured that everyone would ask a question, but the order was important.

Prof. Czarnek has made a formal request to alternate questions. He also asked not to turn off the microphone until he had finished asking the questions, to which Joński replied that the PiS MP was “misusing formal requests”.

Przemysław Czarnek’s request to change the method of conducting the meeting was rejected.

Processing requests for evidence

Jacek Karnowski presents the evidence submitted by Karnowski, Joński and Filiks.

The first motion presented by the KO consists of the following documents: the Marshal’s resolution on ordering the elections for the President of the Republic of Poland, the resolution of the National Electoral Commission on the elections, information from the Supreme Court of Audit , a bill, opinions, expert opinions, transcripts of committee and subcommittee meetings and all other documents.

The politicians also requested documents related to the law on special rules for holding elections for the President of the Republic of Poland.

The committee also received a request from MP Kucharska-Dziedzic – a motion to call Henryk Kowalczyk to testify. As she justified, Kowalczyk was, among other things, chairman of the Public Finance Committee.

The left-wing MP wants that too with Łukasz Schreiber of PiS being called as a witness. The reason was that the PiS MP was a minister in the Prime Minister’s Chancellery during the period in question and the so-called “Shield 2.0.”

The motion by PiS MPs was submitted by Waldemar Buda. The request concerns the calling of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Rafał Trzaskowski and Borys Budka as witnesses before the committee.

These are key figures who helped ensure that the elections were not held on May 9. Budka met with Gowin and we need to determine who benefited politically from the fact that these elections did not take place

– emphasized the PiS MP, vice-chairman of the committee.

Joński defended his party colleagues and claimed that the evidence requests should concern the committee. Prof. Przemysław Czarnek emphasized that Joński torpedoed the committee’s work.

Magdalena Filiks filed a formal motion to “approve this so that it is not possible to denounce the same witness multiple times,” claiming that PiS politicians are provocative with their behavior. A counter-motion was submitted by MP Paweł Jabłoński.

Henryk Kowalczyk was not a minister, and neither was Elżbieta Witek. We have nothing against questioning them, but we do not understand why you are blocking the interrogation of key witnesses? Ms Filiks’ request has no legal basis. Requests for witness interviews will be filed once evidence has been collected. If it appears from the testimony of other witnesses that other people should be heard, each member of the committee has the right to make such requests until the end of the committee’s work.

– Jabłoński emphasized, to which Joński said that “it is better to end this discussion” because it is “a discussion about discussion”.

The proposal to call Łukasz Schreiber as a witness was unanimously supported, as well as the proposal to call Henryk Kowalczyk as a witness.

The motion to call Kidawa-Błońska, Trzaskowski and Budka as witnesses was rejected with the votes of politicians of the ruling coalition led by Tusk.

Appointment of advisors for committee work

PiS MP Mariusz Krystian nominated Paweł Cioch, a doctor of law, as an advisor to the committee.

Witold Tumanowicz nominated Jakub Kalus, a law graduate from the University of Silesia in Katowice.

Prof. Przemysław Czarnek reported to Dr. Michał Skwarzyński, lawyer, assistant professor at the Department of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of the Catholic University of Lublin.

The committee members have not raised any objections to the declared candidacies.

Interrogation of Prof. Robert Flsiak

Prof. Robert Flsiak, president of the Polish Association of Epidemiologists and Infectious Disease Doctors, will be the first to be questioned by the investigative committee. The professor has not appointed a representative.

Paweł Jabłoński indicated that he would like it to be stated in the minutes of the committee that two legal opinions regarding the hearing of Prof. Flisak.

Prof. Flsiak said he had not previously been punished for giving false testimony. The expert exercised his right to freedom of expression.

I would like to focus on the period April-May 2020. This was the time when problems and discussions regarding the topic of this committee’s activities in Poland began to emerge. I will limit myself to Poland and the European context. During this period, the number of registered cases ranged from 250 to 590. The number of deaths ranged from 4 to 40. At the moment we can say that these are relatively small numbers, but these were only cases registered in a situation where our diagnostic capabilities were very limited. The number of deaths was actually already at a higher level than now. The summit in Poland took place in early June

– points out the expert, adding that Italy was experiencing the peak of the disease at the time, and that this peak in Europe occurred in mid-May.

Prof. Flsiak said there were relatively few cases in Poland because “we still had a month to prepare.” He also presented a schedule for introducing restrictions.

The expert added that disease trends increased in July and “it cannot be ruled out” that the election had no influence on this, but there is no evidence of this. Prof. Flsiak recalled that the increase in cases since September 2020 has been rapid and happened as restrictions were eased.

Tasks of the investigation committee

Last year, December 22, the parliamentary investigative committee into the so-called envelope elections in 2020, decided to call as witnesses, among others: former Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin, former Chairman of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, former head of MAP Jacek Sasin, former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration Mariusz Kamiński, former head of the Chancellery of Prime Minister Michał Dworczyk and President of PiS Jarosław Kaczyński.

The task of the Commission of Inquiry to investigate the legality, regularity and purposefulness of the actions taken in preparation and implementation of the 2020 elections for the President of the Republic of Poland in the form of postal votes – the so-called envelope elections – will be primarily intended to “examine and assess the legality, correctness and purposefulness of the actions taken in preparation and implementation of the 2020 elections for the President of the Republic of Poland in the form of correspondence voting by public authorities, in particular specifically, the actions taken by members of the Council of Ministers, including “the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin, and government officials subordinate to them.”

The decision appointing the commission stated, among other things, the need to examine the legislative processes undertaken by those in power in connection with the so-called election circumvention, the administrative decisions they take and issue, and to determine whether the actions of those in power have led to ‘an unfavorable disposition of public or other resources, or an unfavorable management of the property of the public treasury or the property of other legal institutions’. persons.”

READ ALSO: REPORT. Commission on Postal Elections. The Tusk team declines the request to interview Trzaskowski and Kidawa-Błońska!

WKT