“Lex Siwiec” in the Sejm. Janusz Kowalski wants the heads of the Chancellery to be vetted

The introduction of mandatory lustration verification of the management of the Sejm and Senate Chancelleries is envisaged in the draft amendments to the Lustration Act and the Act on the exercise of the mandate of MPs and Senators, which was submitted to the Sejm by PiS MP Janusz Kowalski on Tuesday.

The draft amendments assume the addition of a new chapter to the Act on the exercise of the mandate of MPs and Senators, specifying the tasks of the Chancelleries of the Sejm and Senate, the procedure for appointing the heads of both Chancelleries and the formal requirements for persons holding these positions. According to the project, the heads of both Chancelleries would be appointed and dismissed by the Speakers of the Sejm and Senate after seeking the opinion of the relevant regulatory bodies. The proposed regulations limit the number of deputy heads of both Chancelleries to two people in the Sejm and Senate.

Two deputies and no cooperation with the Security Service

The bill introduces conditions that must be met by the heads of the Chancelleries of the Sejm and Senate and their deputies. This includes: about:

• having Polish citizenship,
• enjoying full public rights,
• no criminal record,
• lack of work, service or cooperation with state security organs in the years 1944–1990.

The changes also include the Lustration Act, i.e. the Act on disclosing information about documents of state security organs from 1944–1990 and the content of these documents. The draft clarifies the effects of a final and binding judgment on submitting a false lustration declaration, which will mean a ban on performing specific public functions for a period of 3 to 10 years.

Fast path of verification by the Institute of National Remembrance

The proposed changes include a provision according to which the Speakers of the Sejm and Senate would, within one month from the entry into force of the Act, verify the current heads of the Chancellery and their deputies, while Lustration activities would be carried out by the Institute of National Remembrance through the Vetting Office or its branch. According to the project, the finding of failure to meet the statutory conditions will result in the expiration of the function by operation of law.

The project would enter into force 14 days from the date of announcement. As we read, the purpose of the proposed changes is to regulate the principles of operation of the Chancellery of the Sejm and Senate on a statutory basis, including: by:

unification and ordering the legal basis for the management of both Chancelleries, ensuring transparency and credibility of persons holding the highest management positions in the Chancelleries, and strengthening citizens' trust in the functioning of the Sejm and Senate by introducing a lustration verification mechanism.

Kowalski about TW “Jerzy”

Janusz Kowalski, presenting the project on the X platform, described it with the words: “lex Siwiec”. “There is no consent for the head of the Chancellery of the Sejm to be a person listed in the Institute of National Remembrance database as a secret collaborator of the Security Service with the pseudonym 'Jerzy',” he added.

In 2007, the Institute of National Remembrance reported, based on its supplemented catalogues, that Marek Siwiec, who from mid-November this year serves as the head of the Chancellery of the Sejm, was registered as a secret collaborator “Jerzy” by the Security Service in Krakow in 1986. In January 1990, he was eliminated due to his resignation. An operational report has also been preserved, reporting on a conversation between Siwiec, staying in Australia – as part of the International Organization for the Exchange of Internships of Organization and Management Students – with a representative of the Australian Security Intelligence Office, which took place in March 1983. Siwiec, then a SLD MEP, stated then that he “did not undertake any cooperation” with the security services of the Polish People's Republic.

Marek Siwiec's file

Marek Siwiec is, among others, former head of the National Security Bureau during the presidency of Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former member of the Polish United Workers' Party and SLD. The head of the International Policy Bureau, Marcin Przydacz, said in November that the speaker of the Sejm was a post-communist and the head of the Chancellery was “his colleague from that era”. (PAP)

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