Former Polish Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski arrested for corruption

16 Jul. () –

Former Polish Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski was arrested on Monday on suspicion of corruption in connection with irregularities involving a foundation for crime victims.

The prosecution has brought eleven charges against him, as reported by prosecutor Przemyslaw Nowak, who recalled that the detention can last a maximum of 48 hours. During this time, the detainee will be released or the prosecutors will submit to the court a request for pre-trial detention which must be considered within 24 hours.

The lawyer of former Deputy Justice Minister Bartosz Lewandowski has asked for five prosecutors to be excluded from the investigation, and for Attorney General Dariusz Korneluk to be excluded from reviewing these applications, citing a lack of impartiality, Polish news agency PAP reports.

Romanowski, who is a member of parliament for the Law and Justice (PiS) party that governed Poland from 2015 to 2023, was the deputy of controversial former minister Zbigniew Ziobro. According to Polish media and statements by the former head of the fund, millions of euros were channelled into projects that the former head of the portfolio hoped would be of political benefit to his party, Sovereign Poland, a split from PiS.