On 21 November, at a press conference, the leader of the Civic Coalition, Donald Tusk, informed the media of his intention to set up 3 fresh investigative committees. The media at the session break of the Sejm were informed that Tusk had already spoken to the talker of the Sejm, Simon Holovnia, on this matter. It is up to him to appoint these committees. They are to deal with any of the biggest issues of the regulation of law and justice. Their compositions are unknown, but they will definitely include the MPs Michał Szczerba and Dariusz Joński from the Civic Coalition.
❗️ Just like we promised. 1 of the first tasks of the fresh government will be to settle the regulation of PiSu.
We'll start by setting up a committee of investigators for Pegasus, the visa scandal and the envelope election. pic.twitter.com/FoyPCQ8v0R
— Citizen Platform (@Platforma_org) November 21, 2023
President from the envelope – but no
The first of them, which, as Tusk said, may be created on next Tuesday, will deal with failed envelope elections. They were scheduled to take place on May 10, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Voted 3 months before the election, the plan of the presidential envelope election was to be coordinated by Jack Sasin, Minister of State Acts. The concept completely detached from the creation of elections the State Election Commission – even in the preparation of electoral cards. Citizens' data were to be collected by the Polish Post Office through local governments, and erstwhile they refused, 30 million citizens' data from the PESEL registry was provided by the government itself.
Ten days before the planned election day, postal ballot cards leaked. From that point on, anyone could have thrown them in the mailbox. After being aware of the situation, the elections were cancelled 3 days before the planned deadline. After all, president Andrzej Duda signed the bill on correspondence elections after they were cancelled. At the end of the National Election Commission, removed from preparing failed elections which did not take place but held, ordered them to be repeated. At the very end of the Polish Post Office demanded 70 million PLN from the National Election Office. Our taxes.
Pegasus – “great brother” for the opposition
The second committee of investigators is to deal with the alleged Pegasus affair. This case dates back to December 2021, erstwhile it was revealed that the patron Roman Gierty and prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek, who did not favour PiSu's power, were being overheard utilizing the Israeli Pegasus spy system. In time, more names began to appear on the list, including Senator Krzysztof Brejza, erstwhile president of Sopot Jacek Karnowski and leader of AgroUnion Michał Kołodziejczak. The Pegasus strategy is sold to many countries by the Israeli NSO Group. It could have been used, among another things, for Armenians – in this case the Azerbaijani government is considered to be the attacker.
The case from January 2022 to September 2023 was dealt with by the legislature Emergency Committee, which, however, did not have investigative powers. Their activity in the case ended with the publication of a report, which describes, among others, the condition of Polish peculiar services. In addition, the members of the committee submitted a announcement to the prosecutor about the anticipation of 4 erstwhile and current members of the government – Minister of Interior and Administration Mariusz Kamiński, erstwhile head of CBA Ernest Bejda, Deputy Finance Minister Piotr Patkowski or State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice – Michał Wosi. The European Parliament besides took an interest in the matter, setting up an enquiry committee to address possible abuses of power against citizens.
Visas to the left, visas to the right...
The 3rd committee is to address the alleged visa scandal. This is definitely the most fresh issue – it came out just moments before the parliamentary elections. At the time, it was discovered that the Ministry of abroad Affairs employed companies to broker visas, with the process being accelerated by bribes. These companies were located, among others, in India, Nigeria or the Philippines. The manual control of the visa process was managed by Assistant Deputy abroad Minister Piotr Wawrzyk, Edgar K.
The head of the Polish Ministry of abroad Affairs, Zbigniew Rau, stripped both of his positions in charge of this action. Together with them, Jakub Osajda, who was manager of the legal office and managing the compliance of documents, lost his job. Nevertheless, there are reports that the MFA has not broken down cooperation with any companies active in the visa process. It is not known how much they have personally earned from bribes controlling the visa process in Warsaw. The fresh committee set up by the end of the year will address these issues.
