A lawyer, KO MP Roman Giertych, was summoned and appeared at the regional prosecutor’s office in Lublin, but he refused to take part in the proceedings. This prosecutor’s office is conducting an investigation into actions against Polnord. Giertych told PAP that he would file a motion to end the proceedings.
Beata Syk-Jankowska, spokeswoman for the regional prosecutor’s office in Lublin, confirmed to PAP on Tuesday that Roman Giertych had been summoned to appear as a suspect on August 6.
He appeared at his summons but refused to participate in the activities as he questioned the status of the suspect in the ongoing investigation.
– she said.
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Giertych’s special position
In an interview with PAP, MP Roman Giertych said the meeting was not a hearing.
I appeared before the public prosecutor’s office and fulfilled the outstanding obligation to appear that the public prosecutor’s office had requested in order to be able to complete all the formalities in this case. I also agreed that by the end of August I would present my position on issues related to Polnord in writing, together with a request to terminate the proceedings.
– said the MP.
He said he had also filed a report on the possibility of a disciplinary tort committed by the former spokesman of the regional prosecutor’s office in Lublin, prosecutor Andrzej Jeżyński.
I have now learned from the Public Prosecutor’s Office that the information he provided on September 6 last year about his intention to bring new charges against me was false. The prosecutor lied when he spoke about it publicly. This case will probably also involve the former head of this Public Prosecutor’s Office, Jerzy Ziarkiewicz, who was actually behind this operation.
- said MP Giertych.
He added that he was told at a meeting at the prosecutor’s office that there were no new charges – apart from those already determined by the courts.
This is also evident from the case files made available to me
– he pointed out.
According to MP Giertych, it was part of the campaign to support his rival in the constituency, Jarosław Kaczyński.
For the past year I lived under the impression that I would face new charges, but it turned out that it was about the involvement of Mr Ziarkiewicz’s Prosecutor’s Office in the election campaign of Jarosław Kaczyński. I will demand criminal and civil liability from people who for a year made me believe that there were new cases that had not been considered by the court.
– MP Giertych told PAP.
He stressed that all charges filed against him three years ago were proven to be baseless by the rulings of many courts.
The first decision to indict Giertych was issued by the Poznań Regional Prosecutor’s Office on October 8, 2020. A year later – on October 14, 2021 – the Lublin Regional Prosecutor’s Office issued a decision to supplement and amend the charges. According to Syk-Jankowska, one of them concerns acting to the detriment of Polnord and embezzling valuable property in the amount of over PLN 72 million. The next two also concern acting to the detriment of Polnord and causing damage to the company in the amount of PLN 4.5 million under the guise of an agreement for the representation of this company by a law firm in proceedings before the Supreme Administrative Court. The last charge concerns the crime of money laundering in the amount of approximately PLN 5.2 million. zloty.
Giertych is currently a KO MP. In April, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin announced that it would not submit a request to lift his immunity, because – as the spokeswoman for this Prosecutor’s Office said – “there are no grounds for this.” The investigation into the Polnord company has been extended until October 16.
Roman Giertych was one of twelve people arrested in mid-October 2020 in connection with an investigation into the removal and embezzlement of a total of approximately PLN 92 million from the listed development company Polnord. Those arrested in the case were accused of embezzling the company’s funds and causing significant material damage to the company, as well as money laundering.
Giertych was taken to a Warsaw hospital after he fainted while CBA agents were searching his home. Giertych’s lawyers subsequently stated that during the prosecution’s activities with their client in a Warsaw hospital, it was not possible to communicate with the lawyer due to his state of health. Therefore, the charges against him were not effectively announced.
The prosecutor’s office subsequently announced that preventive measures had been taken against Roman Giertych, including: PLN 5 million property guarantee. The lawyer’s lawyers appealed this decision. As a result, the Poznań District Court annulled the enforcement of preventive measures. This court ruled, among other things, that the charges against the lawyer had been announced in vain.
The Poznań courts of both instances did not agree with the prosecutor’s request for the temporary arrest of the suspects. These courts found that the evidence collected did not substantially prove that the suspects had committed the acts with which they were charged.
In December 2021, the regional prosecutor’s office in Lublin filed a request with the court for the temporary arrest of lawyer Roman Giertych for failing to appear at the prosecutor’s office’s summons. The information provided showed that he did not appear on any of the 21 dates indicated by the investigators, and during the year the prosecutor’s office sent more than 100 summons to Giertych to all known addresses.
Giertych subsequently refuted the claims of investigators in the case, arguing that the prosecutor’s subpoenas were illegal and that he “never committed a crime.”
In March 2022, the Lublin-Zachód District Court in Lublin did not accept the request of the Lublin Regional Prosecutor’s Office to apply pre-trial detention to lawyer Roman Giertych. The Lublin District Court upheld the decision of the court of first instance.
On November 13, 2023, Roman Giertych took the oath and became a member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, thereby gaining immunity. The lawyer won a parliamentary seat in the parliamentary elections on October 15, 2023, starting from the last place on the Civic Coalition list in Kielce.
Proc. Ostrowski comments on Giertych’s actions
Prosecutor Michał Ostrowski, Deputy Prosecutor General, commented on Roman Giertych’s behavior in Telewizja wPolska.
I cannot hide my surprise at this procedural attitude of Roman Giertych, who is a lawyer and should know how to conduct procedural activities involving a suspect. Mr. Giertych has had this status for several years
– he noticed it.
The head of the prosecutor’s office in Lublin has changed, but the MP’s situation has not changed, which probably made him unhappy. The suspect, as I understand it, comes to the prosecutor’s office to talk to the prosecutor and have coffee? Did he refuse to be questioned as a suspect? This is an unprecedented situation
– Ostrowski emphasized.
go/PAP/Polish Telecom
Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.