Polish prosecutors have requested that Interpol issue a “Red Notice” for the arrest of opposition Conservative (PiS) MP and former deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski.
He is accused of alleged criminal activity and vanished after leaving the hospital recently.
The present centre-left Tusk government has alleged he embezzled public funds and participated in “an organised crime group”.
Romanowski faces 11 charges, including the alleged embezzlement of approximately €25 million and alleged attempted embezzlement of an additional €14 million from the Justice Fund. The fund is meant to be used by the justice ministry to support victims of crime, to help rehabilitate criminals and to prevent crime.
He is also charged with being a member of “an organised crime group”, with that group being defined as made up of unnamed officials at the ministry of justice and their cohorts.
The Justice Fund was allegedly used, according to critics of the previous PiS government, to make payments to supporters of a party faction headed by former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro.
Romanowski was first accused in the summer of this year, with the Donald Tusk-led government stripping him of his parliamentary immunity in July.
Romanowski avoided immediate detainment as he was covered by another immunity as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
PACE eventually voted to remove that immunity in October.
On December 9, a Warsaw court ordered Romanowski’s detention.
He was in hospital in early December for a planned operation. After that, he left on December 6 and has not been traced since.
On December 18, Poland’s national prosecutor, Dariusz Korneluk, told public radio that the prosecution service had requested an Interpol “Red Notice”, asking law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest Romanowski.
Korneluk justified the move by insisting prosecutors were convinced Romanowski had left the country. He added that Poland was now also asking for a European arrest warrant to be issued.
There has been speculation that Romanowski may have fled to Hungary in a bid to avoid extradition. It was also rumoured that he was being shielded by the Catholic organisation Opus Dei, of which it was claimed he was a member, but that group has denied any involvement.
Romanowski’s disappearance has been justified by some of his PiS colleagues as an “act of civil disobedience”.
The opposition PIS-aligned President Andrzej Duda’s adviser, Andrzej Zybertowicz, told public radio on December 14: “Romanowski’s action was an understandable reaction.”
The same investigation into the Justice Fund led to the detention of Father Michał Olszewski in the spring of this year.
The priest was accused of embezzling funds and being part of an organised crime group. He was freed from detention after more than six months when the Appeal Court ordered his release. That was because as prosecutors had failed to show any progress in the investigation that merited continued incarceration, it ruled.
Poland has in the past been questioned by both the European Commission and the Council of Europe over its policy of preventive detention. Critics have argued it has been used to pressure suspects rather than to prevent any abuse of justice.
The Tusk government has made investigation of alleged wrongdoing by the previous PiS government one of its top priorities. Probes have been launched into the issuing of visas, State spending during the Covid pandemic and the use of Pegasus spyware, alongside Justice Fund inquiries.
Neither these investigations nor the recent decision to cut PiS State funding have led to any noticeable decline in electoral support for the party, recent polls have shown.
