"What the PiS government left behind—especially in the justice system—is scorched earth, the destruction of the rule of law," Tusk said last week in an interview with broadcaster TVP Info.
"There will be further efforts to bring the previous authorities to justice," he added.
Tusk said many within the prosecution service are "still hoping to wait out the Tusk government and return to the golden times when the prosecutor's office, the justice ministry and the Justice Fund served the dark political interests of PiS."
He praised Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek as "someone determined and ready to do whatever it takes to catch those who stole or committed wrongdoing."
His remarks came amid a widening investigation into the alleged misuse of the Justice Fund, a public program intended to support crime victims and the rehabilitation of offenders.
Last week, prosecutors filed charges against eight people, including PiS lawmaker Dariusz Matecki, accusing him of six offenses related to the fund, state news agency PAP reported.
On October 28, Żurek asked parliament to lift Ziobro’s immunity so he could face 26 criminal charges.
Prosecutors allege that while serving as justice minister, Ziobro led an organized criminal group that misappropriated more than PLN 150 million (EUR 35.4 million, USD 41.2 million) from the fund.
Ziobro has dismissed the accusations as "absurd," saying he spent his career fighting crime.
Matecki also rejected the allegations against him, calling them "politically motivated."
So far, prosecutors have sent nine indictments to court in various strands of the investigation, according to reports, including one last month against former Deputy Justice Minister Michał Woś, who allegedly used PLN 25 million from the fund to help the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) buy the Pegasus surveillance system, despite a legal ban on financing the agency from non-budgetary sources.
According to prosecutors, three convictions have already been handed down in related cases involving fund misuse and money laundering.
The Justice Fund, established in 1997, was originally intended to help victims of crime.
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Source: IAR, PAP