Prime Minister Tusk quotes testimony incriminating Zbigniew Ziobro in the Zondacrypto case

In the lower house, the Prime Minister quoted the testimony of a witness accusing the former Minister of Justice of accepting financial benefits from Zondacrypto. "Zbyszek read the files (...). He promised that when he returns to the Ministry of Justice, of which he is sure, he will put an end to all these matters; so that I won't worry"; "The compensation will be paid to Ziobro through the foundation; we agreed on a total amount of PLN 2 million," Tusk quoted the testimony.

The head of government also quoted other words of the person testifying regarding Zondacrypto: "The most important thing in this cooperation was that Mr. "Patrycja Kotecka played the main role in this procedure," Donald Tusk further quoted. It's about Zbigniew Ziobro's wife.

Donald Tusk added that the person testifying was to pay PLN 500,000. for the foundation, which - as he testified - "Ziobro was supposed to pay for his own needs."

How can these words harm the cause?

The extradition request does not include allegations of receiving financial benefits from Zondacrypto. Secondly, the Prime Minister spoke about them in the Sejm before an important vote, treating them as pressure on the MPs. This is an ideal argument to defend against extradition to Poland.

Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro will be able to demonstrate that he is being prosecuted for political reasons because his issues in various cases are directly discussed from the parliamentary rostrum, says Przemysław Rosati, head of the Supreme Bar Council.

It is difficult not to consider the prime minister's accusations on Friday as a political action, and this basically destroys the efforts to transfer Ziobro to Poland.

Transferring political prosecutions is an obstacle to considering the request as part of the extradition process, says the lawyer, citing Poland's agreement with the US. It is therefore possible that the Prime Minister helped Zbigniew Ziobro by linking the former minister with the Zondacrypto scandal.

Zondacrypto scandal

An investigation into Zondacrypto was initiated by the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Katowice in April for fraud of significant value and money laundering. So far, several thousand crime reports have been received. In August, the investigation into Zondacrypto was combined with the investigation into the disappearance of Sylwester Suszek, which is being conducted by the branch of the National Prosecutor's Office in Katowice.

Sylwester Suszek is the founder of the BitBay cryptocurrency exchange, the predecessor of Zondacrypto. He went missing in March 2022. He was last seen at a gas station belonging to Marian W. alias. Manik.