In Poland, an ex-official is accused of corruption in the purchase of generators for Ukraine

The National Prosecutor's Office of Poland has put the former head of the State Agency for Strategic Reserves, Michal Kuczmierowski, on the wanted list on suspicion of improper benefits and participation in a criminal group.

This was reported by Onet .

The charges against Kuczmierowski, who appears in the prosecutor's office as Michal K., relate to participation in an organized criminal group and abuse of power and failure to fulfill duties for the purpose of obtaining financial gain.

Although the prosecutor’s office does not specify the details of the case, in June it became known that Kuchmerovsky became a defendant in the investigation due to abuses in the purchase of electric generators for Ukraine in 2023.

The former head of the State Agency for Strategic Reserves, as the media wrote, facilitated a contract for the purchase of generators with an event agency that repeatedly provided services to the then ruling party Law and Justice.

As a result, the generators were of poor quality and never made it to Ukraine - they were allegedly given to Polish rescuers as part of the election campaign of Kuchmerovsky, who was running for the Seimas deputy from PiS.

A representative of the National Prosecutor's Office of Poland, Przemyslaw Nowak, said that Kuchmerovsky would be charged with up to 10 years in prison.

The day before, the court chose a preventive measure for Kuchmerovsky in the form of detention. But the prosecutor’s office believes that the ex-official has left Poland (according to some reports, he is hiding in the Turkish part of Cyprus), so they are preparing a European arrest warrant.

Law and Justice politicians, in particular ex-Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, call the charges brought against Kuchmerovsky a witch hunt and an act of political revenge.

As the investigation established, preference was given to certain companies during procurement. In July, prosecutors accused two officials of abuse of power for allegedly providing benefits to some RARS contractors in connection with the implementation of an EU grant of 114 million euros for the supply of generators to Ukraine.

Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote in X that the person in question is the former president of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves (RARS), Michal Kuczmierowski. His whereabouts are unknown to the authorities, and an arrest warrant allows the former head of RARS to be put on the wanted list.

Morawiecki said that Kuchmerovsky is an honest person and the accusations against him are allegedly an “act of political revenge” on the part of the country’s current Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Moreover, it was Kuchmerovsky who was the author of the reform, thanks to which RARS became “a center of real support for Ukraine,” which made it possible to quickly purchase the necessary equipment.

“In the end, it was the president of RARS (Kuchmerovsky - ed.) who turned this institution into an effective hub, thanks to which help for an attacked Ukraine could quickly flow to where it was most needed. For this, by the way, he was awarded the Order of Merit by the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky,” Morawiecki noted.