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Celerity

(47,927 posts)
Fri Jan 24, 2025, 10:36 AM Jan 24

Hungary: Safe Haven for Poland's Corrupt Officials?



Fugitive Polish officials accused of corruption find asylum in Hungary, raising concerns about EU rule of law.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/hungary-safe-haven-for-polands-corrupt-officials



Marcin Romanowski, a former deputy justice minister under Poland’s ousted Law and Justice (PiS) government, allegedly embezzled more than zł100 million ($24.5 million) while in office. The evidence for the crime is incontrovertible: His closest associate, Tomasz Mraz, has been cooperating with prosecutors, turning over recorded phone calls in which Romanowski and he discussed siphoning money from a public fund intended for crime victims.

When a parliamentary committee and the prosecutor’s office summoned Romanowski for questioning, he pretended that he was hospitalized, before disappearing without a trace. It soon became clear where he had gone. After the Polish prosecutor’s office issued a Europe-wide arrest warrant and an Interpol Red Notice for him, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that his government would offer asylum to any politicians suffering persecution in Poland. By then, Romanowski apparently had already been in Hungary for a few days.

Romanowski is not the first PiS official to flee to Hungary. After being summoned by another parliamentary committee, Daniel Obajtek, the former head of Orlen, Poland’s largest state-owned company, also sought Orbán’s protection. He cynically “ran” for a seat in the European Parliament from Hungarian territory, and only set foot in Poland again after he had won and received parliamentary immunity (the Polish prosecutor has since applied to have this status revoked).

Protecting corrupt politicians is nothing new for Orbán. He has already granted asylum to former North Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who fled to Hungary to escape a prison sentence on corruption charges. And he allowed former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to hide in the Hungarian embassy during the investigation into his failed coup attempt following his 2022 electoral defeat.

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