Robert Bąkiewicz ordered to return PLN 383,000. zloty. Here is the result of the inspection at the Independence March Rota association

Government spokesman Adam Szłapka announced on Thursday that the director of the National Institute of Freedom – Center for the Development of Civil Society (NIW-CRSO), Michał Braun, called on Robert Bąkiewicz and his Independence March Rota association to return over PLN 383,000. zloty.

The National Freedom Institute is a government agency that provides substantive and financial support to non-governmental organizations. The Institute's inspection revealed numerous irregularities in the Independence March Rota association, whose president is Robert Bąkiewicz. Among them: lack of evidence of the office's operation, orders for a personally related company and money for the leader of the Border Defense Movement. Moreover, as part of a project for which he received support from a government program, Bąkiewicz commissioned the recording of the association's spots to Telewizja Media Narodowe SA, of which he was the president.

In this way, the company managed by Robert Bąkiewicz received over PLN 55,000. Paweł Kryszczak, project coordinator in the Independence March Rota association, sat on the Supervisory Board of this company – wrote in a statement from the National Freedom Institute.

“There are so many great, patriotic slogans left – hundreds of thousands of zlotys to donate,” Adam Szłapka noted on the X platform.

The National Freedom Institute pointed out that at the same time the association rented premises from the Zabuże Foundation, also founded by Paweł Kryszczak in Biała Podlaska. “The association did not present any evidence that activities were carried out there. No information can be found about the Zabuże Paweł Kryszczak Foundation. The address indicated as the office is a private house. During the inspection, Robert Bąkiewicz presented photos as evidence of activities carried out in the office, which – as it turned out – illustrated events, among others, in Wrocław,” we read in the statement.

Kryszczak – as noted – was employed as a media monitoring expert. “The association was unable to provide evidence of the implementation of the tasks described in the report,” it added.

According to NIW, “the association did not provide confirmation of transfers documenting the actual payment for services and goods purchased as part of the implemented task. In addition, the inspection found, among others: lack of accounting policy, lack of appropriate authorizations, lack of confirmation of the use of the premises, which was paid for from the project funds, and lack of implementation of the project results,” NIW-CRSO pointed out.

The director of NIW-CRSO, Michał Braun, ordered Robert Bąkiewicz's association to return PLN 383,991 with interest. The inspection report will be published on the NIW-CRSO website.

In response to Szłapka's entry, Bąkiewicz wrote: “You are repeating the lies of the director of the NIW, although the Rot project was cleared by both the previous and the current authorities of the NIW – without any reservations.” “'Fictitious office', 'lack of documents', 'irregularities' are a narrative built for a political attack,” he added.

In his opinion, “this is an attack on the Border Defense Movement because we are revealing facts that are inconvenient for you.” “We already have materials collected by your own prosecutor's office, which clearly show that Polish state officials agreed to the transfer of migrants from Germany to Poland. And that is why you are trying to slander me today. But the truth about the border will come to light anyway,” Bąkiewicz noted in the entry.

Roty Szu Niepodległości is an association founded in 2019, coming from the circles of the organizers of the Independence March, with a national-radical and national-Catholic profile. The president of the association is Robert Bąkiewicz. (PAP)

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