Nearly 100 thousand PLN for mileage? The minister assures that she did not break the law
Minister of Health Katarzyna Sójka referred to controversial expenses on mileage. “I didn’t break the law,” she assured in the interview.
After Katarzyna Sójka became the new Minister of Health, Wirtualna Polska examined the reports on expenses for her parliamentary offices. Amounts collected for the so-called The mileage was surprisingly high, especially since the MP did not indicate any car in her financial statements. There was no mention of lending or leasing a car.
In the report for 2019-2020, MP Katarzyna Sójka showed that she spent PLN 32,439.91 on “travel of MPs in connection with the performance of their parliamentary mandate by their own car or another car”. In 2021, it was PLN 29,686.76, and in 2022, the mileage fee increased to PLN 34,704.93. In total, during her parliamentary mandate, she collected PLN 96,831 for travel.
Controversy regarding mileage. The jay replies
Katarzyna Sójka commented on the controversy in an interview for the RynekZdrowia portal.
– There is a lot of noise around me, the purpose of which is to divert attention from really important things – said the minister. – The media, of course, have the right to write about me, although many publications, especially about my private life, amaze me. But these are not things related in any way to my role as the Minister of Health and the work of the ministry, she added.
She assured that she had not broken the law. –There are over 200 MPs who settled mileage in the same way. Moreover, my mileage proves that I am a very active MP in the field, she said.
At the beginning of September, there was an accident involving the Minister of Health and a cyclist. The Minister of Health was driving a private car at the time, which was not disclosed in her asset declarations. It is also not included in the register of property benefits. The loan agreement is not mentioned in any of the documents on the parliamentary website.
In response to doubts, the Sejm Information Center wrote that “trips may be settled by your own car or another car, i.e. also one that is not owned by the MP (and therefore not included in the asset declaration).”
