Former government embezzled billions, says Polish prime minister

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday accused the former Law and Justice (PiS) party of misappropriating billions of public funds during its eight years in power.

Financial administration inspectors are currently examining 90 state institutions, Tusk said in Warsaw. According to him, the PiS government illegally spent the equivalent of US$25 billion.

The conservative national party PiS, which put Poland on a course of confrontation with the European Union, led the country from 2015 to 2023.

He lost the parliamentary elections last October and Poland. The country has been governed by a center-left alliance under Tusk since December.

So far, 62 people are under investigation, while the Public Prosecutor’s Office has received 149 complaints, Tusk said.

“What stands out most is a deliberate strategy of using public funds that flowed from ministries to foundations managed by politicians or their families,” he said.

PiS was very creative in using these public funds for election campaign advertising, Tusk added.

He also spoke of a “closed system” in which not only public funds but also entire authorities and their employees were used in favor of the ruling PiS party.

The current Ministers of Interior, Justice and Finance signed an agreement to jointly pursue financial abuses and crimes and bring perpetrators to justice and return misappropriated funds.

Writing in X, former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki dismissed the accusations as lies aimed at “liquidating the largest opposition party in Poland”.