2024-09-11 14:00:24
Rishard Czarnecki – former vice-president of the European Parliament, has requested to be reimbursed for travel expenses worth 203,000 euros, Politico reported today.
Czarnecki was first investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in 2020 when a refund of €100,000 for his travel expenses between 2009 and 2018 was disputed. Czarnecki had to return these money to the European Parliament to end this investigation, writes BTA.
However, the documents were transferred to Polish prosecutors, who did not show the same understanding as their EU colleagues, Politico writes.
Czarnecki’s failure in this year’s European Parliament elections also made it easier to bring charges against him, as he no longer enjoys parliamentary immunity.
Czarnecki, who was an MEP from 2004 to 2024 and one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament, now faces fraud charges and could face up to 15 years in prison.
“The refund (of the amount) does not settle the matter; in the best case, it can affect the punishment or a possible recovery of the funds,” Rafal Kavalec, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in the eastern Polish city of Zamosc, told “Zheczpospolita” last month.
The Polish newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcha” got acquainted with documents of the state prosecution and yesterday told in detail about the accusations against Czarnecki, notes “Politico”.
According to the publication of “Gazeta Vyborcha”, Czarnecki submitted 243 requests for reimbursement of travel expenses on the territory of the entire continent with 14 different vehicles, including Chinese-made scooters, a Suzuki sports motorcycle and even a heavy-duty truck.
Some of the cars had fake license plates and others were registered to people who said they did not know Czarnecki.
Many of the trips were made from the eastern Polish city of Jasło, where Czarnecki says he lives, although he has actually lived for years in Warsaw, which is 340 kilometers closer to Brussels.
Czarnecki claims he did nothing wrong, blames his co-workers who filled out the forms and called the allegations “lies and complete nonsense.”
“Once again, as I have pointed out over the last four years, I have not filled out the travel reimbursement forms that the prosecution – and therefore the media – are talking about. I have repeatedly emphasized this. It’s malicious that they don’t report it,” Czarnecki told Politico.
Czarnecki was an MEP from various parties, but in his last three terms switched to Law and Justice (PiS), the party that governed Poland from 2015 until last year.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s new government is pushing for PiS politicians to be held accountable for corruption and other crimes, and Czarnecki was mentioned as one of the cases to be resolved.
Tusk is preparing for next year’s presidential elections, in which the former PiS-aligned head of state Andrzej Duda will be replaced, and accusations of corruption may reflect badly on the previous rulers, Politico points out.
Czarnecki claims he was unfairly targeted. “I returned all the money demanded by the European Parliament three years ago,” he said. “I consider the whole case political.”
The new Polish government and its supporters are holding up Czarnecki as an example of what was allowed under PiS rule, when prosecutors were tightly controlled by the government and “left on the chopping block” many politically sensitive cases.
“This fraud must be held to account and severely punished,” said Monika Velihovska – Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and a member of Tusk’s party “Civil Coalition” to Polish media and added that if what was reported is true, the behavior of Czarnecki is “brazen fraud”.
Even former allies of Czarnecki from PiS are cautious about the case, writes “Politico”. PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczynski said: “When it comes to the relevant verdicts, of course, then we will have to draw appropriate conclusions”.
For Czarnecki, this is not the first involvement in a shameful act, the publication points out. In 2018, he became the first vice-president of the European Parliament to be removed from his post after he likened Polish MEP Ruza Thun to a Nazi collaborator.
Thanks to his political connections, Czarnecki settled on other positions on the state salary, mainly in Polish sports. He held high positions in the Polish Football Association, the Polish Volleyball Association and the Polish Olympic Committee.
While vice-chairman of the Polish Volleyball Committee, Czarnecki claimed to be working pro bono, but Polish broadcaster Te Faw En later revealed he was being paid. In response, Czarnecki explained last year that he was forced to accept the money because otherwise an awkward and artificial situation was created.
The 63-year-old Czarnecki is a political “survivor” who has jumped from party to party and from one lucrative position to another in recent decades, getting away with it without consequences. He claims that it will be no different now.
“During the case, I will prove my innocence,” said Czarnecki, quoted by Politico.