Ryszard Czarnecki arrested. This is how he spoke about his relationship with the rector of the Collegium

“According to Onet, the prosecutor’s office accuses the Czarneckis of concluding an informal corruption agreement with the founder of the Collegium Humanum. Emilia H., the wife of a former PiS MEP, was to receive a doctorate from the Collegium Humanum and work at the university, and in return, Ryszard Czarnecki promised to pressure the Uzbek authorities to agree to the creation of a branch of the Collegium Humanum,” Andrzej Stankiewicz writes in Onet.

We also asked Czarnecki about trips to Uzbekistan. He eloquently responded in the summer of 2022:

– I am very sorry I was unable to attend the historic opening ceremony of a branch of our university. [Collegium Humanum – przyp. red.] in this most populous country in Central Asia. Also, I have never been to the city of Andijan, which is approximately 450 km from Tashkent [stolicy Uzbekistanu – przyp. red.].

However, I was in Uzbekistan a few days before the opening of the branch as the official representative of the European Parliament in the presidential election observation mission in that country. The independent observer of these elections was the rector, Prof. Paweł Cz. [został zatrzymany kilka miesięcy temu, postawiono mu 75 zarzutów – przyp. red.] invited by the Embassy of Uzbekistan in the Republic of Poland. [Ja zaś] I invited the Rector to the ceremony of awarding an honorary doctorate at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in the capital. I also attended a meeting with the Rector at the headquarters of the Accreditation Commission in Tashkent. I was invited there as chairman of the EU-Uzbekistan Friendship Group. As far as I know, the opening ceremony took place after I and the European Parliament delegation had left, Czarnecki wrote. According to Onet, the promotion of the university in Uzbekistan is the reason for Ryszard Czarnecki’s arrest.

As Renata Kim writes in “Newsweek”, Czarnecki’s figure is fundamental to understanding the dynamics of the university’s expansion. In 2020, the MEP headed the university convention. He told us about it this way:

– In February 2020, I became the president of the Collegium Humanum Convention. The rector of this university and its authorities invited me and representatives of socio-economic life to the Convention in accordance with the requirements of the Higher Education and Science Act of 2018. The vision of the Collegium Humanum authorities to internationalize education and promote Poland abroad through education won my support. (…) The Convention is an advisory and opinion-giving body in the field of creating the university’s educational offer. Its members include important representatives of social, industrial and economic institutions, including: the President of the Polish Hospital Federation, the President of the Pharmaceutical Chamber, the President of the Nursing Chamber, the President of the Federation of Entrepreneurs, the President of the Polish Psychological Association, mayors, etc. Our task is to support the university with the council on various issues. This is a very important but not time-consuming task.

As the MEP claimed at the time, he did not receive any remuneration for his work. – I have never received and do not receive any remuneration from the Collegium Humanum. My involvement is purely social. As far as I know, other members of the Convention do not receive any remuneration either.

Whether this was true and whether another type of corruption was involved will be determined by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.