New information on the watch scandal. Tomczyk talked about another mysterious “object”
Cezary Tomczyk talked about the high-profile “procedure” that allegedly took place in the Ministry of Defense during the rule of the United Right for the first time at a press conference on Thursday. In the context of the item most associated with the scandal – a watch worth PLN 6,000. PLN – the deputy minister said on TVP Info – “it was stolen”.
On April 29, Tomczyk was the “Guest of the Morning”. He was asked about the so-called watch scandal discovered by the Military Counterintelligence Service.
On April 27, on the X platform, Cezary Tomczyk published the content of an e-mail that was allegedly sent in November last year by the director of the Ministry of National Defense. “This is what I chose,” she said, writing about the expensive Longines watch.
“Purchased for the South Korean Minister”
Tomczyk recalled earlier arrangements according to which the watch “was purchased for the South Korean minister, but (…) it was not supposed to end up in his hands from the beginning.” – It was stolen – said the deputy minister.
– The value of gifts for foreign delegations should not exceed, say, PLN 200 – he noted. So in this particular situation, the item exceeded that amount by 30 times. If the Ministry of National Defense plans to purchase a more expensive gift, an “appropriate procedure” is initiated, he pointed out. This was applied when purchasing a watch of the brand – Longines, model – La Grande Classique. The problem is that he “didn't go where” he was officially supposed to.
Tomczyk said that “several people were involved in the procedure.” They were supposed to be “Mariusz Błaszczak's people”. He noted that the former minister's explanation that this particular “gadgets unit did not report to him” was not very “convincing” for him. He added that this office carries “responsibility for the work of the entire ministry.”
Tomczyk: Many items were appropriated
The deputy minister recalled that “the item was recovered” by the Military Police. The prosecutor's office informed about this earlier. He revealed that the soldier who bought it saved a considerable amount of money. – Due to the fact that it cost 6,000. PLN, he got a discount (…), a few percent discount. (…) From the information we have (…), he was very happy that he saved (money – ed.) the State Treasury – said Tomczyk. He added that in reality the situation was a “drama”. – (Director – ed.) could have thought that maybe (…) there was something missing, or maybe something was wrong – said the deputy minister of the Ministry of National Defence.
Tomczyk announced that “in the coming days” new information about the “procedure” will probably be revealed. There were to be many more situations of this type. – We are dealing with the misappropriation of many items that were assigned to foreign delegations. (…) A form was created stating that (…) a specific item – I don't want to talk about the details today – was sent to, for example, the American delegation. But (…) he is most likely today in a beautiful house of one of Minister Mariusz Błaszczak's friends, but the prosecutor's office will deal with that. (…) The investigation is ongoing, he assured.
As the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw reported on Thursday, “in an investigation conducted by the Military Affairs Department regarding the abuse of powers in November 2023 by a public official – the Director General of the Ministry of National Defense, acting in order to obtain a financial benefit by a civilian employee of the Ministry of National Defense by making a decision to giving this employee a Longines watch previously purchased for the promotional purposes of the Ministry of National Defense (…) and thus acting to the detriment of the public interest, (…) on April 24 (…) the watch in question was seized from a civilian employee of the Ministry of National Defense ” – we read in the announcement.
The prosecutor's office is conducting an investigation
As the prosecutor's spokesman, Szymon Banna, announced on April 25, “during the investigation into this case, all circumstances related to the seizure of the watch by this official will be clarified.”