This comes after Anna W., the head of the office of former PiS Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, was charged with accepting a bribe of 3.5 million PLN (0.83 million EUR or 0.86 million USD) from the founder of the Red is Bad brand. The prosecution also filed charges against Anna W.'s husband, Marek W., and PR agency owner Paweł K.
As Bodnar noted in a social media post, 11 people have so far been charged with a total of 27 offenses, including the former head of RARS, Michał K., three other agency officials, and Paweł Sz.
Three suspects remain in temporary detention in Poland, with Marek W. released on bail of 200,000 PLN (47,360 EUR or 49,130 USD), while Michał K., who was arrested in the UK, is currently undergoing extradition proceedings. Despite a British court ruling on Wednesday that Michał K. could be released on bail of over half a million pounds, the amount has not yet been paid, preventing his release.
The charges include mismanagement of funds by the agency totaling at least 340 million PLN (80.51 million EUR or 83.52 million USD).
"All they had to do was not steal," commented Polish FM Radosław Sikorski on the RARS scandal via social media.
"All charges are based on evidence, and the prosecution is acting apolitically, standing guard over the rule of law. No one suspected of breaking the law can expect protection," emphasized Adam Bodnar, who, along with other justice ministers from EU countries, is attending an informal summit in Warsaw today on the challenges of the rule of law and its impact on the judiciary.
Source: IAR/PAP/X/@Adbodnar/@sikorskiradek/@MS_GOV_PL
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