Two ex-ministers suspended as main opposition MPs over potential land sale scam

Former Polish Agriculture Minister Rober Telus and his deputy Rafal Romanowski have been suspended from the membership of the main opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) over the alleged irregular sale of a strategic plot belonging to a state-owned agricultural agency.

Former Polish Agriculture Minister Rober Telus and his deputy Rafal Romanowski. Photo/PAP/Tomasz Gzell

Wirtualna Polska news portal reported on Monday that in 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, then headed by Telus, allegedly approved the sale of 160 hectares of land, through which a high-speed rail line from Warsaw to Poland's planned central transportation hub CPK was supposed to run, to Piotr Wielgomas, vice president of frozen fruit producer Dawtona.

Dawtona had leased the plot since 2008 and unsuccessfully applied for its purchase. According to Wirtualna Polska, in 2021, the State Water Management Authority (Wody Polskie), at the request of the National Support Centre for Agriculture (KOWR), the plot owner, informed the interested party that the plot "contains a natural stream, which should be treated as inland flowing waters ... not subject to civil law transactions."

According to the portal, Telus visited Dawtona before the transaction was finalised. Wirtualna Polska added that the CPK managing company had previously raised the alarm about the situation, and when it finally applied to the KOWR for the plot it needed, CPK was told the agency no longer owned it.

Following the report, PiS spokesperson Rafal Bochenek announced on Facebook later on Monday that Telus and Romanowski were suspended "by decision of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski... until the matter of the sale of a plot of land belonging to KOWR is clarified."

Following Bochenek's announcement Telus took to X where he wrote that he had no knowledge of the transaction or the fact that such a plot of land was being sold.

"I am certain that the matter will be quickly and thoroughly resolved. I treat the [PiS] chairman's decision as an expression of concern for the well-being of our party and its credibility," his post read.

I am, have been, and will remain an opponent of the sale of state-owned land. State Treasury resources are a strategic reserve that Poland cannot discard," Telus added.

Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Maciej Lasek said on the same day that, since last year, the current government had been unsuccessfully trying to regain the plot of land through negotiations and an amicable settlement. He added that the case of the purchase by Dawtona of land located near the CPK, now under construction, had been reported to the prosecutor's office, which is investigating the matter.

According to Wirtualna Polska, the value of the plot currently owned by Wielgomas may increase even more than tenfold. "It was sold for PLN 22.8 million (EUR 5.38 million). It could soon be worth as much as PLN 400 million (EUR 94.4 million)," the portal wrote. (PAP)

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