Sejm committee recommends lifting Bartoszewski’s immunity — Interia
In Poland, the parliamentary committee on rules, members’ affairs and immunities recommended that the Sejm consent to bringing Deputy Foreign Minister and MP Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski to criminal liability. This entails lifting his parliamentary immunity, Interia reports.
Committee vote
The committee voted separately on granting consent to hold the politician liable for each of the two alleged crimes indicated in the prosecution’s request. In both votes, 14 of the 15 committee members present supported the decision, while one abstained.
The final decision on immunity must be made by the Sejm at a plenary sitting. According to the publication, the prosecutor submitted the request to bring Bartoszewski to criminal liability on June 16, and it was received by the Marshal of the Sejm in mid-July.
Prosecution’s claims and the MP’s position
Prosecutor Andrzej Michalski told the committee that the collected evidence, in the prosecution’s view, indicates a high probability that Bartoszewski committed two crimes: misappropriation of property and obstructing or preventing the satisfaction of a creditor’s claims.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
According to the prosecution, from July 2012 to February 20, 2015, the politician may have misappropriated funds entrusted to him for management by Andrzej Ciechanowiecki and the Non Omnis Moriar foundation. The funds amounted to £1 million, €45,000 and 6,683,705.86 zlotys. The prosecutor claims that Bartoszewski used these funds for the purchase by Max&Max, a company of which he was director, of three apartments in Warsaw.
The prosecution also suspects that from July 16, 2012, to March 2022, he took actions that could have obstructed the enforcement of an anticipated court ruling. Among such actions, the prosecutor cited the sale of the apartments by Max&Max and Bartoszewski’s resignation as its director.
Bartoszewski asked for consideration of the immunity issue to be postponed until the civil proceedings are finally concluded. He stated that new evidence had been submitted to the Warsaw Court of Appeal which, in his view, could affect the consideration of the case. Representatives of the prosecution said they had not received these documents, and the committee rejected the request for a postponement.
