Staff broom in the Silesian prosecutor's office. Żurek: We are slowly diagnosing chronic diseases

Changes in the prosecutor's office are still ongoing, so let's not be surprised by the changes in Silesia – Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek told PAP when asked about the dismissal of six prosecutors from the delegation to the Silesian Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office.

Żurek, asked on Tuesday by PAP whether these changes in the Katowice PK department were necessary, replied: “In my opinion, they were necessary.”

– These people are still on a three-month notice period, I am waiting for new candidates for very good prosecutors. We must intensify our investigations. This has not been done so far in the way I would expect from the prosecutor's office, said the prosecutor general.

As he added, “changes in the entire prosecutor's office are still ongoing, so we should not be surprised that such changes have occurred there in Silesia.” – I would like the prosecutor's office to function properly – emphasized Żurek.

– We are slowly diagnosing various irregularities and delays, and these changes will certainly continue – noted the prosecutor general.

Change of investigators in the RARS and Zondacrypto case

This concerns the information published last week about the dismissal of six prosecutors from the Silesian Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office (the so-called PZ) in Katowice. They led, among others, matters relating to the Government Agency of Strategic Reserves or the disappearance of Sylwester Suszka – the founder of the BitBay exchange, the predecessor of Zondacrypto. Appeal – such as, among others: reported “Gazeta Wyborcza” – it concerned prosecutors: Sebastian Głuch, Krzysztof Motyl, Karol Zok, Marcin Kind, Gabriela Cichońska and Anna Hetmańczyk.

On Monday, the spokeswoman for the PG, Prosecutor Anna Adamiak, said on TVN24 that the decision to dismiss these prosecutors from the delegation was initiated by the head of the Silesian branch of the PZ of the National Prosecutor's Office, Prosecutor Marek Wełna, who submitted a request for dismissal, and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek signed the decision.

– The head of the local PK department in Katowice takes responsibility for this decision. He has only been in this position for a short time and has undoubtedly had time to become familiar with both the investigations and the work performed by individual prosecutors. He made such a decision, it is his decision, emphasized prosecutor Adamiak.

When questioned, she said that “it should be presumed and assumed that the head of the department (…) looked at the cases, contacted the prosecutors performing their duties there and came to the conclusion that he would like to shape the staffing situation differently in his department, which he manages and for whose work he takes responsibility.”

The Prosecutor General on the changes in Katowice

The PG spokeswoman also reminded that the delegation itself is a “temporary state” of prosecutors performing their official duties in other units, and dismissed prosecutors will be able to return to their “parent units” in the prosecutor's office. She added that the notice period is three months.

When asked whether the dismissal of prosecutors would extend the work on the investigations they have been conducting so far – including RARS and the disappearance of Sylwester Suszek – prosecutor Adamiak pointed out that the notice period allows their new officers to get used to the cases, in cooperation with the prosecutors who have been conducting these proceedings so far. (PAP)

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