Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said on Tuesday that he had asked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to verify the basis for Ziobro’s entry into and continued stay in the United States.
Ziobro, a senior Law and Justice (PiS) politician who served as justice minister from 2015 to 2023, is wanted in Poland over alleged irregularities involving the Justice Fund.
The fund was intended chiefly to support victims of crime. Prosecutors allege that money was diverted to organizations favored by officials from the former PiS-led government.
Polish prosecutors accuse Ziobro of 26 offenses, including directing an organized criminal group, abusing public office and ordering subordinates to break the law when distributing grants.
Zbigniew Ziobro. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
Żurek said his letter informed ICE that Polish authorities had invalidated Ziobro’s ordinary and diplomatic passports. Hungary has also withdrawn his refugee status and canceled the travel document issued with it.
Poland has asked ICE to establish what documents Ziobro used to enter the United States and whether he is staying there legally.
"The seriousness of the allegations, the alleged involvement of public funds, the alleged abuse of high public office and the final court order for pre-trial detention make it important for the United States authorities to examine the basis on which Mr. Ziobro entered and remains in the United States," Żurek wrote.
He asked the agency to treat the matter as urgent.
Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
A Polish court ordered Ziobro’s pre-trial detention in February, after which prosecutors issued a nationwide arrest warrant. The District Court in Warsaw upheld the detention order on July 1.
Żurek said an extradition request running to almost 300 pages had been prepared and was awaiting translation into English. "We can have a complete application within a week," he told a news conference on Tuesday.
The request will then be submitted under the extradition treaty between Poland and the United States. Żurek said the government was also exploring whether US immigration procedures could provide a faster route for returning Ziobro to Poland.
"We do not know which path will prove faster or more effective," he said. "We will see whether Zbigniew Ziobro has been granted any status in the United States and whether he is there legally."
Ziobro spent several months in Hungary after receiving international protection from the government of then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He announced on May 10 that he was in the United States.
He maintained that he had not fled Poland and said he was using a document issued with his Hungarian asylum status. Hungary withdrew that protection on July 2, after Orbán lost the country’s parliamentary election.
The decision also covered Ziobro’s wife, Patrycja Kotecka-Ziobro, and former Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, another suspect in the Justice Fund investigation.
Marcin Romanowski. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
A Warsaw court rejected a prosecution request for a European Arrest Warrant on Monday. It found that prosecutors had not demonstrated that Ziobro was in the European Union or planned to travel there.
Żurek said prosecutors would consider filing another application.
He rejected suggestions that the case could harm Polish-US relations and said legal proceedings should be treated separately from diplomatic ties.
Ziobro was among the most powerful figures in the PiS government. As justice minister and prosecutor-general, he oversaw the prosecution service and played a leading role in the government’s disputed overhaul of the judiciary.
(rt/gs)
Sources: IAR, PAP