Politicians within the opposition social gathering PiS admit the social gathering will face penalties if its former MEP, Ryszard Czarnecki, is discovered to have falsified paperwork to keep away from prices of embezzling EU funds.
Prosecutors allege that Czarnecki falsified his journey receipts, Gazeta Wyborcza, which has seen paperwork from the prosecutor’s workplace, reported. His case has shaken Polish politics, with PiS members brazenly condemning his misconduct and social gathering chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski asserting penalties.
“When the suitable verdicts are handed, then, after all, we must draw penalties, as we all the time do in such circumstances. Nonetheless, there aren’t any verdicts but,” Kaczyński advised a press convention whereas admitting that “there’s a drawback that should be solved.”
“If the reviews are confirmed, then it’s a scandal and I don’t reward such behaviour of Mr. Czarnecki. And he must reply for it,” PiS MP, former training minister Przemysław Czarnek advised personal broadcaster Radio ZET.
In keeping with paperwork seen by Gazeta Wyborcza, between 2009 and 2013, Czarnecki submitted 243 journey claims for cross-continental journeys to Brussels and Strasbourg in 14 totally different automobiles, in addition to on Chinese language-made scooters, a 750cc Suzuki sports activities motorbike and even a heavy-duty truck.
A number of the automobiles even had pretend quantity plates, although a lot of the house owners contacted by prosecutors stated they’d nothing in widespread with Czarnecki and had by no means picked up an MEP.
Furthermore, some stated that their automobiles had already been scrapped on the time of the alleged use or had been in such poor situation that they might not be used for cross-border journey.
Czarnecki’s alleged place of residence, Jasło, is also fabricated, in line with Gazeta Wyborcza, which has been unable to ascertain any hyperlink between Czarnecki and the city.
The paper means that the previous MEP, who solely has three flats in Warsaw, could have chosen Jasło, within the south of Poland, to extend the space of his journey and thus obtain the next reimbursement.
“If one provides up solely the journeys between Jasło and Warsaw, Brussels and Strasbourg, Ryszard Czarnecki would circle the Earth 5.56 instances,” Gazeta Wyborcza identified.
Responding to the media reviews, Czarnecki blamed others for any potential wrongdoings.
“I used to be not the one who crammed out the journey settlement purposes that the prosecutor’s workplace and the media are speaking about,” he wrote on X, including that he would show his innocence in court docket.
Critical prices
Czarnecki was first investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Workplace (OLAF) in 2020, which questioned €100,000 reimbursed to him for journey between 2009 and 2018.
The MEP then returned the cash to the European Parliament, ending the European case, however the file was handed on to Polish prosecutors, who had been much less sympathetic.
“Ryszard Czarnecki, a Member of the European Parliament, turned committing a criminal offense into an everyday supply of earnings, deriving undue advantages from prison exercise over a interval of 4 years,” reads the prosecutor’s resolution on the fees in opposition to Czarnecki.
Czarnecki, an MEP from 2004 to 2024 and former vice-president of the European Parliament, now faces as much as 15 years in jail on fraud prices. His defeat in June’s European elections made it simpler to cost him, as he’s now not lined by immunity.
“Reimbursement doesn’t settle the matter. At most, it might have an effect on the penalty or on a potential obligation to make restitution,” Rafał Kawalec, spokesman for the regional prosecutor’s workplace within the metropolis of Zamość, advised the Rzeczpospolita information company.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)
