Poland’s Attorney General Adam Bodnar asked the European Parliament to lift the immunity of Michał Dworczyk, Poland’s new MEP and head of the office of former PiS Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who was embroiled in a scandal over leaked emails, according to Euractiv.
In 2021, Telegram published a series of messages leaked from Dworczyk’s personal email account. Those included emails in which Dworczyk discussed with Morawiecki cases being investigated by the PiS-affiliated Constitutional Tribunal.
Emails containing classified information about Poland’s defence and bilateral relations with other states were also leaked and published.
The Prosecutor General’s Office accused Dworczyk of failing to fulfil his duties and obstructing the investigation into the scandal, according to Anna Adamiak, the spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The failure to fulfil his duties resulted from using an uncertified and unsecured private email box for the correspondence involving official tasks, which are essential for public security and the proper functioning of the state.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Dworczyk ordered the phishing emails, metadata, files, and links to be permanently deleted after the scandal erupted. As a result, a lot of evidence that could have helped in the investigation of the hacking attack was destroyed.
The attorney general, who is also the justice minister, says Dworczyk is suspected of committing the crime. However, in order to be tried, he must be stripped of his immunity as a MEP. The
prosecutor’s request has therefore been passed to the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. It will be referred to the Legal Affairs Committee, which will consider the request and decide whether to lift the immunity.
The decision to lift the immunity of MEPs is taken by the EU Parliament in plenary session by a simple majority of votes.
