Poland detains ex-officials over €1.9m state-backed media campaign
Polish prosecutors have charged two former officials with misusing €1.9 million from a state-backed foundation for a domestic political campaign, exposing how public company funds were allegedly diverted to finance the previous government's judicial agenda.
Polish authorities have detained and charged Maciej Ś. and Cezary J., former board members of the Polish National Foundation (PFN), over the alleged abuse of power and failure to fulfil their duties. The charges relate to a 2017 advertising initiative known as the "Fair Courts" campaign, which security services spokesman Jacek Dobrzyński said caused “material damage to the foundation on a massive scale, in an amount of no less than 8.4 million zloty”.
The case underscores the ongoing reckoning over how state capital was managed under the previous government. The PFN was established in 2016 by 17 state-owned companies with a mandate to promote Poland's image abroad. Instead, investigators say its leadership funnelled €1.9 million into a domestic campaign attacking the judiciary to justify controversial reforms pushed by the then-ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.
For investors monitoring corporate governance in Central Europe, the use of state-owned enterprise capital to fund domestic political messaging raises significant red flags. A Warsaw court ruled in 2018 that the campaign violated the foundation's statutory goals, noting the adverts damaged Poland's international reputation rather than enhancing it.
The "Fair Courts" initiative is part of a wider pattern of alleged financial mismanagement at the foundation, which also included purchasing a nearly €1 million yacht that spent weeks stuck in port. In 2021, the Supreme Audit Office accused the body of breaking the law by refusing to hand over audit documents. This February, a newly appointed PFN board reported to prosecutors that criminal negligence by predecessors caused over 30 million zloty in total damages.
Maciej Ś. faces the most severe legal scrutiny. After his tenure at the PFN, he was appointed by PiS in 2022 to head the National Broadcasting Council, the state media regulator, where he served until 2025. He now faces separate proceedings before the State Tribunal over accusations that he unlawfully withheld public media funds and targeted private broadcasters critical of the former government. He has been banned from leaving the country.
The arrests have intensified political friction in Warsaw. Security services minister Tomasz Siemoniak stated the campaign “responded to a political order from the PiS government and discredited independent courts,” adding that “the moral damage is incalculable.” PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński dismissed the charges as “another act of vengeance by Donald Tusk’s apparatus of power”, claiming their aim was “intimidation and defamation”.
