The Public Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw has submitted the indictment to the court. In total, there are nineteen suspects. According to the Prosecutor's Office, they acted against the public interest by making decisions that led to financial damage to the state.
In the same context, the Prosecutor's Office announced that former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is also likely to be charged. The Attorney General has officially informed the chairman of the Polish parliament about this. Morawiecki has since voluntarily waived his parliamentary immunity.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, the possible charges against Morawiecki relate to actions he performed in his capacity as head of government. If it is established that legal or constitutional provisions were violated, the case can be referred to the State Tribunal.
The indictment against Ardanowski concerns decisions he made as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. According to the Prosecutor's Office, he contributed to granting financial guarantees to companies in a very poor financial situation.
One of these companies is Eskimos S.A., active in the processing of agricultural products. In 2018 and 2019, bank and credit guarantees were provided through the National Support Center for Agriculture for the purchase of industrial apples. The guarantees together amounted to about 24 million euros.
The second company is the dairy cooperative Bielmlek. In August 2019, a credit guarantee was made possible equivalent to 7.2 million euros. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the involved directors were aware of the very poor financial situation of the cooperative and its financial obligations.
Justice asserts that these decisions resulted in inefficient and imprudent spending of public funds. Ardanowski is said to have cooperated with managers of the National Support Center for Agriculture and other officials.
In addition to Ardanowski, former top officials of the Support Center and a deputy minister from the Ministry of Agriculture have also been charged. The alleged offenses carry a potential prison sentence of one to ten years.
Former Minister Ardanowski belonged to the conservative current within Polish politics, was affiliated for several years with the PiS party of the Kaczynski brothers, but later founded his own even more outspoken pro-farmer party.
Ardanowski is recently chairman of the presidential council for Agriculture, a nationalist think tank of the current conservative president Karol Nawrocki. This keeps Ardanowski a challenging opponent in Polish politics to the liberal pro-EU agricultural policy of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.