Morawiecki’s Confidant in Prosecutor’s Sights Amid RARS Scandal

The National Prosecutor’s Office is investigating irregularities at RARS, leading to charges against former foundation board presidents over funds allegedly diverted for political campaigns and propaganda.

Investigation into RARS Irregularities

The National Prosecutor’s Office is conducting an investigation into irregularities at the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves (RARS). Investigators have presented charges in this case to, among others, former management board presidents of the J.K. Steczkowski Foundation of the BGK, established by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego: Anna P., Włodzimierz D., and Renata K. According to the prosecutor’s office, they allegedly led to the conclusion of contracts and agreements with the “Red is Bad” Foundation, on the basis of which the indicated foundation received money for the implementation of programs.

“This was allegedly done in violation of the statute of the BGK Foundation, without a reliable check of applications for co-financing and without verification of the manner of using the transferred funds. The suspects allegedly knew at the same time that the money would be allocated for political activity,” informed the press spokesman of the National Prosecutor’s Office, prosecutor Przemysław Nowak. This concerns 1,437,708.73 PLN, which was “allocated for financing political campaigns, in particular for paying a team of people dealing with the artificial creation of reach, building support for specific political narratives, creating propaganda materials, and presenting opposition politicians in a negative light.”

Onet Reports on Potential Interrogations of Chłopik and Lesisz

According to unofficial findings by Onet, the aforementioned suspects were “instructed on the absolute ban on maintaining contacts not only among themselves, but also with Mariusz Chłopik and Cezariusz Lesisz.” “This is a direct indication that the prosecutor’s office intends to interrogate both of them in the near future,” assessed an Onet interlocutor.

“Both Chłopik and Lesisz were involved in directing orders worth hundreds of millions of PLN from RARS and BGK to the companies of Paweł Sz. and his ‘Red is Bad’ foundation. Lesisz, already during the pandemic, pointed to the companies of Paweł Sz. as potential suppliers of imported equipment, and Chłopik felt at home in the agency and in BGK,” wrote Onet.

Background of Mariusz Chłopik’s Career

Chłopik belonged to the Association of Polish Scouting and Guiding in the past. In the years 2010–2018, he was a councilor of the Rembertów district of Warsaw. According to Onet, his career began to gain momentum after the successes of PiS and Andrzej Duda in the presidential and parliamentary elections. He then became the marketing director at the Industrial Development Agency. When Mateusz Morawiecki became prime minister, Chłopik served as the deputy director of the Information Center of the Government for four months. “Later he began to be responsible for the image of the head of government from the back seat,” wrote Onet.