LAW, JUSTICE, MONEY A GOOD CLIMATE FOR MONEY A thousand-people party convention, pretending to be a climate conference – all paid for with EU money. Invoices for hundreds of thousands PLN were issued by the party’s friends. It’s an international scandal, and all threads lead to Zbigniew Ziobro, Jacek Kurski, and their party’s treasurer Denmark, Spring 2016. In the suburbs of Copenhagen, two journalists ring a doorbell. A man opens the door. „Sir, did you take part in the MELD workshop? We saw your name on the list of participants.” „Never heard of it.” This was the first scene of what turned out to be one of Denmark’s biggest political scandals. What was it all about? Scams in the Danish People’s Party, the second most influential political group in Denmark. Some Members of European Parliament who belong to the Danish party are also members of the European party called MELD (Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy). The journalists discovered that MELD – funded by the European Parliament – received funds for EU- related projects. MELD supposedly spent the money on symposiums and workshops, but they never actually took place. Hundreds of thousands of euros were defrauded and used to fuel the Danish People’s Party’s campaign instead - claims Peter Jeppesen, the journalist who wrote about MELD’s financial frauds. OLAF, an European anti-fraud office, has initiated an investigation. Newsweek discovered that some Polish politicians also played a role in the scandal. For a few years, the Brussels fraction of MELD was led by Jacek Włosowicz and Jacek Kurski. Włosowicz – today a Law and Justice (PiS) party senator –- back then was a treasurer of Solidarna Polska (Solidary Poland), a minor right-wing political party. Włosowicz was also the right-hand man of Solidarna Polska’s leader, Zbigniew Ziobro – a prominent Polish politician who currently serves as Poland’s Minister of Justice. Jacek Kurski, also a right-wing politician, is now the president of the Polish public broadcaster TVP. Thanks to Włosowicz and Kurski, MELD funds were transferred to their friends in Poland, who would then send substantial donations to Ziobro’s party. Solidarna Polska is one of the ruling coalition parties in Poland, along with Law and Justice, and Poland Together. A FILM THAT VANISHES We found a document confirming that MELD paid for a climate conference for 800 people to be organised in Poland. The document states a precise date and place: Cracow, 30th of June 2013. There’s just one problem: no climate conference took place in Cracow on that day. Instead, the largest room of Kijów cinema in Cracow served as a venue for the Solidarna Polska party convention, held under a slogan “A new state, a new constitution”. There were 1200 party sympathisers present, and the stars of the evening were Zbigniew Ziobro and Jacek Kurski. Next to them, guests of honour: Paweł Kukiz (a former musician, now minor right-wing party leader), and Piotr Duda, leader of the Solidarity Trade Union. MELD funds were transferred to the party’s friends in Poland, who would then donate the money to Solidarna Polska Who paid for the convention in Kijów cinema? Did the event have anything to do with climate or environment issues? We send our questions to the Solidarna Polska, to Jacek Kurski, to the Ministry of Justice and to Zbigniew Ziobro’s parliamentary office – to no avail. Then we ask Jacek Włosowicz, former MELD president, now PiS senator. He messages us back, saying that he will need a week to find all the documents. While waiting for Włosowicz’s response, we go through Solidarna Polska’s bank statements, available at the National Election Commission. No trace of any payments for the venue in Cracow, sound systems or buses for the activists. As if it never happened. We look for the convention programme and for the list of speakers. Perhaps some of them were invited to speak about climate? We find a photograph, showing a forest of party banners, flags and rollups. One of the banners says: „Stop the climate convention”. There’s a video from the convention on YouTube: it looks almost like an American rally, full of flags and banners, the highlight being Ziobro’s fiery speech about the new constitution. We go to Kijów cinema in Cracow. „A party convention? Sorry, can’t remember”, the cinema employee smiles at us. „There were a lot of famous people. Paweł Kukiz, Piotr Duda”, we try to jog her memory. „Oh, that’s right, Kukiz! Now I remember. In the summer. Big event, there was catering.” After our questions to Włosowicz and Ziobro, the film disappears from YouTube. So does all the evidence from the party’s website. There is still a link, saying „A new state, a new constitution - after the Solidarna Polska new programme convention”, but it’s empty inside. All that’s left are archival photographs posted by three local divisions of Solidarna Polska on their websites. Next to the pictures there’s an announcement that reads: „We invite you to take part in the Solidarna Polska Convention. We will present a proposal of radical changes to the state, along with a project of the New Constitution … The convention will accommodate over 1000 guests and will take place on 30th of June 2013 in Cracow.” POWER, BUT NOT FOR MERIT Newsweek got hold of an unpublished film from the event. There’s nothing to prove that the event is a climate conference. The front of the building is decorated with a large red banner with the event’s slogan: „A new state, a new constitution”. Solidarna Polska’s party flags are flown in front of the entrance. The posters in the windows are trying to tempt the voters, with promises: „Accelerated court procedures for the politicians”. A bus stops in front of the building – it’s full of party activists in formal attire. Then – refreshments in the foyer and scenes from the conference room: everyone singing the national anthem, propaganda slides on a LED display, party leaders delivering their speeches. Zbigniew Ziobro: „We want power not for merit, and not for sinecures.” Jacek Kurski: „The state must open up to active citizenship. More power to referendums! Beata Kempa (now Chief of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland; she enters the stage to the sound of Roxette’s song „Joyride”): „I’m very happy to see that everyone made it here safely, so we can all discuss the future of children in our country.” Patryk Jaki (now Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice): „Why the doctors need bribery to decide whether or not they should perform a surgery? Why did our doctors sell human organs for money?” Paweł Kukiz: „I’m delighted to be here knowing there’s another strong voice calling for single- mandate constituencies in Poland.” The only person who mentions the climate package in the video is the leader of Solidarity Trade Union, Piotr Duda. However, after just two sentences he moves on to another issue – increasing the retirement age. The event is closed with everyone holding hands and dancing to „We Are The Champions”. In the background, there is a board with Solidarna Polska’s new constitution project: a presidential system, withdrawal of immunities, the Public Prosecutor General to be chosen in public elections. Not a word about climate. After our questions to Włosowicz and Ziobro, the film disappears from YouTube. So does all the evidence from the party’s website. THE PEN EMPIRE We do some fact checking. Solidarna Polska did organise one climate conference using MELD funds before. The event took place in Katowice in 2012. At the conference, Ziobro’s party announced that they will start an association named „Stop the climate package”. The association was never registered. Interesting: three days after the convention in Kijów cinema, Ziobro shows up in Katowice again. He calls a press conference and announces that Jarosław Kaczyński and Donald Tusk are responsible for the climate package. 30 people are listening. Early November, 2016. Solidarna Polska’s treasurer once again asks us to wait for answers. We go through some more MELD documents: a list of invoices issued to MELD by the Polish companies in 2013 and 2014. They are mostly one-man businesses from the Lesser Poland (this is Ziobro’s territory) and Świętokrzyskie Province (that’s where the treasurer Jacek Włosowicz is in charge). Every single business is connected to Solidarna Polska’s politicians. E-Komunikacja, a company from Cracow, charged € 11.500 for 10.000 pens. It also charged € 15.500 for organising the climate conference. Who placed those orders? Why a pen that’s worth a few cents in wholesale, would suddenly cost over one euro? What climate conference was organised by the company, and where did it take place? Unfortunately, E-Komunikacja doesn’t have a website and there’s no way to get in touch. We learn that it belongs to Mariusz Badura, a friend of Zbigniew Ziobro’s brother, Witold. In 2012, Badura was the main character of a peculiar affair. A group of experts who prepared analyses regarding Solidarna Polska were not paid for their work. The research was commissioned by Jacek Kurski and Witold Ziobro. The experts signed their contracts with E-Komunikacja, not with Solidarna Polska. Badura insisted that he commissioned the research because he wanted to… sell it to Solidarna Polska. He explains that he didn’t pay the researchers because their work was below standards. We ask Badura about MELD orders. No answer. According to the documents, in 2013 Bandura’s company received regular payments from Ziobro’s party.