Polish prosecutors seek charges against ex-justice minister for misuse of funds

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish prosecutors on Tuesday requested lifting the parliamentary immunity of a former justice minister who is facing charges of abuse of power and mishandling funds including for buying Israeli spyware allegedly used against political opponents.

Zbigniew Ziobro was alleged to have misused a fund under the Ministry of Justice for victims of violence for other purposes, including the purchase of Israeli Pegasus surveillance software.

Prosecutors said they have evidence Ziobro allegedly created and led an organized crime group responsible for diverting money from the same Justice Fund for personal and political interests. Ziobro served as the justice minister and prosecutor general between 2015 and 2023, under the conservative Law and Justice party.

Anna Adamiak, a spokesperson for the General Prosecutor's Office, told a news conference that 150 million zloty ($42 million) from the Justice Fund were misappropriated. Prosecutors were seeking Ziobro’s arrest on charges that carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, she added.

The current government, led by center-right Prime Minister Donald Tusk, claimed that Law and Justice used Pegasus to spy on political opponents, including prominent politicians from Tusk's party. Polish authorities are investigating the claims.

Tusk's government came to power with a promise to hold the former government to account for alleged abuses committed while in office.

“There are no sacred cows,” the current justice minister, Waldemar Żurek, wrote on X, announcing the request to lift Ziobro's immunity. The speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, who receives the request, is a political ally of Tusk.

Prosecutors have earlier charged Michał Woś, a former Ziobro deputy, with abuse of power for his role in the purchase of Pegasus. Prosecutors have also unsuccessfully sought the lifting of the immunity of Bogdan Święczkowski, the current president of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal, over orders he gave while he served as a national prosecutor in relation to Pegasus surveillance operations.

Zbigniew Ziobro did not immediately respond to the prosecutors' allegations.

He was in Budapest, Hungary, on Monday, writing on X that he would tell “Hungarian friends” what life under a “Brussels-anointed prime minister looks like," in a swipe at Tusk. The Law and Justice party accuses Tusk of being an EU puppet.

Hungary, led by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has hosted several politicians close to Law and Justice while Polish authorities were seeking them.

Speaking during a parliamentary commission looking into Pegasus, Ziobro said Sept. 29 that he was the initiator of the purchase of the spy software but insisted it was used for legitimate purposes, to uncover “the activities of people who were embezzling Polish assets."