Former advisers to Poland’s prime minister Beata Szydło have been detained over suspected irregularities involving a state-funded campaign linked to the conservative Law and Justice party.
The Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) detained Piotr Matczuk and Anna Plakwicz on 23 September 2026 as part of an investigation into possible violations at the Polish National Foundation (PFN), according to Polish media, including Do Rzeczy. Both individuals served as advisers to Szydło, who led a government representing Law and Justice, known by its Polish initials PiS.
The inquiry centres on the “Fair Courts” campaign, which was conducted during the PiS government and financed by state-owned companies. Critics argue that public money was used not simply for official communication, but to attack Polish judges and advance the political interests of the then-ruling party.
A campaign funded by state companies
The investigation places the use of public resources at the centre of a dispute over the boundary between government communication and party political activity. The authorities are examining whether money channelled through the Polish National Foundation helped finance the campaign as an instrument of political struggle on behalf of PiS.
That distinction is central to the case. State-backed funding can be presented as support for an official public message, while critics may see the same expenditure as an attempt by those in power to shape political opinion and discredit institutions that challenge them. The “Fair Courts” campaign has become the specific focus through which those wider questions are being tested.
The detention of Matczuk and Plakwicz does not in itself establish that public funds were misused. The investigation must determine how the money was allocated, how the campaign was organised and whether the resources of the foundation and state-owned companies were used for purposes beyond authorised public communication.
Political consequences for PiS
Because the two people detained were connected to Szydło, the case also raises questions about the responsibility of the former government and structures linked to it. If investigators confirm wrongdoing, it would indicate that state-company funds were used not only to communicate government policy but also to support political confrontation in favour of the governing party.
That would give the case significance beyond the conduct of two former advisers. It would point to the use of public resources by a government to pursue the interests of the party in power, and would intensify scrutiny of the relationship between state institutions, publicly controlled companies and political campaigning.
The investigation therefore has the potential to become a test of whether public bodies and state-owned companies were kept separate from party strategy during the PiS period. Its findings will need to establish more than the existence of the campaign: they will need to show whether the funding and activity breached the rules governing the use of state resources.
Evidence will determine the case
Representatives of PiS have described the detentions as political revenge. That accusation makes the evidential standard especially important. Without clearly demonstrated facts, criminal proceedings against former members of the governing camp risk becoming part of Poland’s continuing political confrontation rather than a settled account of whether public money was improperly used.
The competing interpretations cannot be resolved by political claims alone. The CBA investigation must establish whether the Polish National Foundation’s funds supported the “Fair Courts” campaign in a lawful form of public communication or were diverted towards a political campaign against judges and in support of PiS interests.
Its conclusions will shape whether the detentions are understood as accountability for the misuse of state resources or as an escalation in the conflict surrounding the former ruling party.
Should the case be judged chiefly by the evidence uncovered by investigators, or by the political context in which the detentions took place?
