The Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) has entered to flats belonging to the President of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) Marian Banaś - Onet.pl portal reported. The spokesman for the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok told TVN24 that the proceedings were being conducted in connection to the investigation into Banaś' asset declarations. Chief press officer of NIK Zbigniew Matwiej informed the CBA agents also came to the NIK headquarters, but conducted no search, as "NIK chief said they had insufficient constitutional grounds".
According to Onet, Wednesday searches were carried out in Marian Banaś' flats in Warsaw and Cracow, as well as in Cracow flat of his daughter.
"I can only confirm that at the request of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok, offcers from the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) are conducting legal proceedings in the form of searching residential and office spaces" - the prosecutor's office spokesperson Paweł Sawoń told TVN24.
Unofficial: Banaś in one of the flats
The proceedings aim to reveal - said the prosecutor's office spokesman - "evidence useful in the investigation into alleged false asset declarations and income tax evasion". When asked further, he confirmed he spoke about asset declarations of Marian Banaś.
The CBA refused to comment at the time and referred questions to the Białystok prosecutors.
TVN24 reporter Jan Piotrowski unofficially learned Marian Banaś had not been present in the NIK headquarters in the morning. He was reportedly assisting the CBA agents at one of the searched flats.
No search at the NIK
On Wedensday afternoon, chief press officer of NIK Zbigniew Matwiej informed the CBA agents also came to the NIK headquarters, but conducted no search, as "NIK chief said they had insufficient constitutional grounds".
Attorney for Marian Banaś, Marek Małecki, also commented on the searches of his flats. "We're filing a complaint on the search decision. There were no factual, nor legal grounds to carry out this procedure" - Mr Małecki told tvn24.pl portal.
In his opinion, the NIK chief's place of residence is protected by immunity. "In which case steps taken by the CBA and the Białystok prosecutor's office were unacceptable. We'll be sure to complain against these actions" - the attorney stressed.
Asset declarations case
"Superwizjer" journalist, Bertold Kittel, has been checking, among other things, why Marian Banaś had not included the information regarding a tenement building in Kraków district of Podgórze that was used as a collateral and, according to the asset declaration and the real estate register, is owned by the chief of NIK. The journalist visited an hourly hotel that is being run in the building. It was there where he had faced a well-known criminal and ex-con from Kraków.
Marian Banaś avoided answering the journalist's questions about the tenement building, despite being asked face-to-face. Only after the TV report was aired had he issued a statement regarging the property. He claims that he no longer owns it, "did not manage the hotel shown in the material", and that he had rented the place in the past "under a legal contract".
The report by "Superwizjer" stressed that in 2016 Banaś had declared to sell the tenement building, but it did not happen. The property became a collateral for loan of over 2.6 million zlotys, granted by Bank Ochrony Środowiska, where Banaś' son had been working.
According to "Superwizjer", the NIK chief did not inform about this asset declaration.
"I was ready to submit resignation but I became a victim of brutal political game" - the President of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) Marian Banaś said in a statement in late 2019. He declared he was ready to answer any questions asked by investigators, and if need be, to give up his immunity. "I shall continue my mission with a sense of responsibility," he added.
Autorka/Autor: gf
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Onet.pl