Former Orlen CEO and PiS chairman summoned before visa scandal committee

Jarosław Kaczyński's and Daniel Obajtek's summonses for tomorrow's meeting of the parliamentary committee investigating the so-called visa scandal have been successfully delivered - Michał Szczerba of Civic Coalition, the committee's chairman, wrote on Thursday on social media.

Obajtek, a candidate for PiS in the European Parliamentary elections on June 9, has been asked to appear because of Orlen's reliance on migrant workers to expand its petrochemical plant in Poland, though the panel has not suggested wrongdoing.

Obajtek said the company's contractors were in charge of bringing foreign workers to Poland.

Neither of the witnesses scheduled for questioning on Wednesday appeared before the committee investigating the visa scandal.

Jarosław Kaczyński was supposed to testify at 10 a.m., while Daniel Obajtek at 3 p.m. Due to their absence, the committee requested a fine of 3,000 złoty be imposed on each, but it also ordered Obajtek be detained and brought before the panel for questioning.

"I would like to submit a motion to impose a fine on the witness and to order the witness' detention and a warrant for compulsory appearance on June 7," Szczerba said on Wednesday.

The request to detain Obajtek came after he had missed a second scheduled appearance before the committee.

Both have been summoned for Friday - Kaczyński for 9 a.m. and Obajtek for 12 p.m.

On Thursday, the chairman of the committee, Michał Szczerba, announced on social media that both summonses had been successfully delivered.

The PiS chairman announced that he would appear before the committee. He added, however, that if he were in Obajtek's place, he wouldn't turn up.

"Because what's that has to do with anything? What does the chairman (of Orlen - edit.) have to do with these matters? This was about some alleged gigantic scandals," Kaczyński said, arguing that "it was a gigantic operation aimed at deceiving the public".

Asked if the former CEO of Orlen and PiS candidate in the European elections was hiding in Hungary, Kaczyński defended Obajtek by saying that "there are ongoing persecutions of a man who has done enormous things for Poland".

He assessed that Obajtek "has the right to act this way" because the authorities and prosecutors in Poland are currently "illegal".

Furthermore, the PiS leader stated that if politicians from his party were leading the investigation regarding Orlen, there would already be "a hundred resolutions from the European Parliament".

"And I don't even know if German troops... wouldn't be stepping in to intervene," he said.

Asked by private broadcaster Polsat News on Wednesday evening whether he would appear on June 7, Obajtek said "I am not ruling it out... but I'm not saying I will come."

"I'm not afraid, but you have to know that one has to spend two days preparing for such a commission and be in Warsaw practically for one day. Those are three days taken out of the electoral calendar at the last moment of the elections, when one should be among people and campaigning," he said.

He added that he had asked Szczerba to postpone his hearing until after the June 9 election to the European Parliament (EP).

Szczerba is also running in the elections but in a different constituency.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday he had no doubt Obajtek would appear in court, but added he would not exert pressure on prosecutors.

"There are enough determined people there to bring these people to court in the end, in accordance with the procedures and their professional decency," Tusk told reporters.

"I will not hurry prosecutors, judges or policemen in their work".

Prosecutors in Poland are also investigating the loss of about $400 million by Orlen's Swiss unit in prepayment for oil it didn't get, a potential fuel price manipulation and financial terms of Orlen's merger will smaller peer Lotos under Obajtek's helm. Obajtek has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.