Justice Fund irregularities may lead to charges says audit chief

The president of Poland's Supreme Audit Office (NIK) has said that irregularities in the management of a fund established to help victims of crime may lead to Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro being reported to the prosecutor.

Marian Banas said Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski could also be implicated in a complaint to the prosecutor.

Last Thursday, NIK presented the results of an inspection of the Justice Fund that found money from the fund had been used in a "wasteful and pointless manner" which was "conducive to the emergence of corruption-generating mechanisms."

In connection with the findings, NIK submitted five notifications to the prosecutor of the possibility of a crime having been committed. The NIK president also filed a motion with the Constitutional Tribunal to declare the fund's regulation unconstitutional.

The Polish president, prime minister and Deputy Prime Minister and ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski were also informed of the outcome of the inspection.

Speaking on private broadcaster TVN24, Banas said: "We are analysing a set of materials.... Maybe there will also be a need to submit a notification to the prosecutor concerning the minister of justice. But, time will tell."

He added that such a notification would fall under Article 231 of the Criminal Code, which concerns exceeding powers.

On the subject of the NIK report's criticisms of Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, Banas said that Romanowski was the architect of two projects in which he had allocated money to himself.