In a Friday conversation with PAP, Roman Giertych, head of the PiS liquidation team, announced that the notification will be submitted to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw next week.
Giertych added that the presidency of the team he leads questions whether the issue of sports associations falls within the jurisdiction of Law and Justice..
Since PiS members attacked these sports associations like locusts, we decided that we had the competence to deal with this matter. – he said.
According to Giertych, the media “obviously” pointed to the possibility of a crime committed by the authorities of the sports associations. It would be – as he put it – the use of state money “for private purposes, having nothing to do with the goals of the Polish Olympic Committee or with sporting goals”.
And since this association refused to provide information about the public distribution of money to Minister Sławomir Nitras, we decided that there was a basis for the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the case. – he added.
On Monday, Sports Minister Sławomir Nitras presented data on the X website regarding state budget financing for the preparation of athletes for the Paris Olympic Games in 2022-24. They show that the Ministry of Sports and Tourism and the State Treasury companies during this period were transferred to the Polish Olympic Committee PLN 92,163,180. At the same time, Polish Olympic associations received PLN 785,659,000 from the state budget.
Nitras asked the president of the Polish Olympic Committee, Radosław Piesiewicz, to provide documentation regarding, among other things, the composition of the delegations of individual associations to the Paris Olympic Games. This information was to be sent to the Ministry of Sports and Tourism by 14 August 2024. This was in connection with media criticism of the president of the Polish Olympic Committee that athletes had worse conditions than the committee’s activists.
We will investigate all cases of neglect reported by athletes. There have been many signs of lack of coaches, physiotherapists or equipment. We will start by determining who participated in the Olympic Games using public funds and in what capacity. – Nitras said then.
On Friday, Nitras said that The POC did not provide information and emphasized that the official IOC document requires the disclosure of such information.
The President of the Polish Olympic Committee, Radosław Piesiewicz, asked a few days ago about Nitras’ words about more than PLN 92 million transferred to the Polish Olympic Committee by State Treasury companies in 2022-2024 and that Nitras was demanding explanations about what public money was spent on, argued that he was acting in accordance with the law and “works hard every day for the Polish Olympic Committee”.
We receive money not as a donation, but as sponsorship. Every quarter or half year, we send reports on the completion of tasks. We also donate part of the money directly to Polish sports associations. – said Piesiewicz.
