President Andrzej Duda has issued a clemency act that applies to Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, and the measure is considered in effect. The president’s prerogative cannot be exercised twice for the same action, and no one can judge its effectiveness, according to Grażyna Ignaczak-Bandych, the head of the President’s Chancellery, speaking on Polsat News today.
The former head of the Central Bureau of Anticorruption (CBA) and the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration, Mariusz Kamiński, along with his former deputy, Maciej Wąsik, were previously sentenced to two years in prison in connection with the so-called land scandal. On December 21, the Speaker of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, announced that their parliamentary mandates had expired.
Ignaczak-Bandych was asked on Polsat News whether the president would grant a second pardon to Kamiński and Wąsik.
Ignaczak-Bandych: The president’s prerogative is not subject to external judgment
She stated that the pardon has been granted and is in effect. She noted that the same act cannot be repeated and that the individuals will be pardoned. She added that there is no right for others to evaluate the president’s prerogative.
– said the presidential minister. In 2015, President Andrzej Duda granted clemency to Kamiński and Wąsik.
The head of the Chancellery expressed support for Kamiński and Wąsik and their families for what might unfold in the future.
The Kamiński and Wąsik case
The saga involving the former CBA leaders spans nearly a decade. In March 2015, the Warsaw District Court in Śródmieście sentenced Kamiński and Wąsik to three years in prison for exceeding powers and engaging in unlawful CBA operations during the 2007 land scandal. Two other former CBA board members received prison terms of 2.5 years. Kamiński condemned the verdict as unjust and incomprehensible. That same year, the president granted clemency to Kamiński and Wąsik, who were subsequently lawfully convicted again later through different legal channels.
The matter resurfaced after more than eight years, prompted by a Supreme Court ruling in June. The Supreme Court’s Criminal Chamber, following cassation appeals, annulled the termination of the case initiated by the District Court in Warsaw in 2016, which related to the pardon granted by the president to the former CBA heads who had not been legally convicted, sending the case back for further investigation.
The Chairman: no grounds to declare mandate expiry
Previously, the president indicated in a letter to the Speaker of the Sejm that, given the 2015 pardon and the subsequent political and legal outcomes, there were no grounds to declare the mandates expired.
A few days earlier, Prime Minister Donald Tusk weighed in on the issue.
Different views were expressed about the actions of M. Wąsik and M. Kamiński in the past and at the time they regained power; one view held that they were innocent and deserving of pardon. If that view is accepted, some suggested a further pardon might be warranted.
What lies ahead for the former CBA heads?
Radio Zet reported on December 27 that the convicts were not expected to begin serving prison terms before mid-January.
On the following Wednesday, Kamiński and Wąsik’s attorney filed a request to halt enforcement proceedings concerning their detention. The court has fourteen days to respond. As a result, prison sentences would not begin before mid-January.
The same outlet noted that for two PiS politicians and two additional CBA staff members also implicated in the land scandal, a motion to pause proceedings to imprison them had been filed on the grounds of their pardon in 2015. The request is to be processed within fourteen days.
If a court were to decide that PiS officials should be imprisoned, it could involve detention near their homes. For Kamiński and Wąsik, Warsaw’s Białołęka district detention facility was mentioned as a possible site.
— via Radio Zet