NIK notifies the prosecutor’s office. Indicates, among others: to Bielany and Puda
NIK has prepared a notification to the prosecutor’s office regarding irregularities at NCBR. According to the Chamber, PiS MEP Adam Bielan allegedly blackmailed Jacek Żalek. These are not the only doubts after the inspection.
The tvn24.pl portal has unofficially determined that the notification to the prosecutor’s office has already been prepared. NIK confirmed this on the website X.
“After the inspection at the NCBiR, the Supreme Audit Office prepared notifications on suspicion of committing a crime, including: abuse of powers by a Member of the European Parliament, acting to the detriment of the interests of the NCBiR and publishing classified materials,” we read in the release.
This is about PiS MEP Adam Bielan. The portal learned that apart from him, according to the Supreme Audit Office, the crimes were also committed by the Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, Grzegorz Puda, and the director of the National Center for Research and Development, Jacek Orzeł.
Scandal at NCBIR. Jacek Żalek blackmailed?
What are NIK’s doubts about? According to the auditors, in January and February 2023, Adam Bielan allegedly used “illegal threats to force Jacek Żalek to appoint Paweł Kuch as the director of NCBR.”
“We tried to obtain a comment from Adam Bielan, but he did not answer the phone and did not respond to the message sent to him,” writes the portal.
NIK also believes that the Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, Grzegorz Puda, ignored the results of the competition for the director of NCBR, which also constitutes a crime, according to the NIK. As a result of the minister’s actions, there were two directors of the Center for several months. Jacek Orzeł, appointed by the minister, is still the head of the institution, and the candidate selected in the competition later became the president of the Centrum company. Puda did not comment on this matter.
Also in the case of Jacek Orzeł, the Supreme Audit Office found potential irregularities. This concerns the return of company laptops from the previous boss, Paweł Kuch. Since the new director did not collect the refund, according to the Chamber, he failed to fulfill his obligations.
– Actually, the services, although not the Supreme Audit Office, know about it and do what is necessary. This matter is over, but if anyone has any doubts, we will clarify them – this is how Jacek Orzeł commented on this issue in an interview with the portal. He added that the equipment was returned about a month ago.
The detection of irregularities at NCBiR was one of the most famous scandals of 2023 and cost Jacek Żalek his position. On March 9, Żalek resigned from the position of Secretary of State at the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy.
Jacek Żalek’s resignation was related to suspicions of irregularities in awarding subsidies for research and development projects by the National Center for Research and Development. The Republican Party politician was deprived of his powers to supervise the Center. In the second part of February, NCBiR announced that the Central Anticorruption Bureau had started an inspection of the institution. “The Center’s management guaranteed full cooperation with the CBA,” it was assured.
