Rutkowski tells Sejm Kołodziejczak filed ABW complaint over blackmail by ex-volunteers
Michał Kołodziejczak did not attend a Sejm press conference on Monday, 12 October, where detective Krzysztof Rutkowski said the former deputy agriculture minister had reported being blackmailed. The allegations of violence and drug incitement, which Kołodziejczak denies, were published by Kanał Zero on Friday, 9 October.
The allegations
On Friday, 9 October, Kanał Zero published a report in which two former collaborators of Michał Kołodziejczak, a former deputy minister of agriculture and leader of Agrounia, accused him of aggression, violence and encouraging drug use. The accusations included physical violence, verbal aggression and threats. Kołodziejczak denied the claims and called them slander. The parliamentary club of Koalicja Obywatelska (KO) suspended him in his membership rights, and the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor's Office (Prokuratura Okręgowa w Warszawie) opened verification proceedings.
A complaint to the ABW
On Sunday, 11 October, Kołodziejczak appeared with detective Krzysztof Rutkowski in front of the Łódź branch of the Internal Security Agency (ABW), where he filed a notification. Rutkowski told a press conference in the Sejm on Monday, 12 October, that Kołodziejczak had contacted his office on 4 September, saying he was being blackmailed and pressured into certain behaviour by two women who had volunteered for him before the parliamentary elections. According to Rutkowski, the trouble began when Kołodziejczak became deputy minister, because the women then sought positions and economic benefits that he could not deliver. A separate notification concerning patostreaming was filed with the district police in Jawor, Rutkowski said.
- Kanał Zero publishes allegations by two former collaborators
- Kołodziejczak files a notification at the Łódź ABW branch
- Rutkowski speaks at a Sejm press conference in Kołodziejczak's absence
Drugs and the women's account
Rutkowski addressed recordings of conversations between the former deputy minister and the women, which Kołodziejczak made, Rutkowski said, while he was being blackmailed and felt intimidated. He conceded that the way the politician spoke in them could raise questions about his state. Rutkowski said that, based on information he held, Kołodziejczak did not give anyone drugs or other intoxicants, and that he himself had not attended the meetings the former collaborators described.
He may have been under the influence of alcohol. I do not think, however, that he was under the influence of drugs.
Rutkowski said Kołodziejczak had declared he was ready to undergo hair tests for drugs as part of cooperation with the police, the ABW and prosecutors, a test that can detect substances taken several months earlier. Rutkowski also said he found it strange that none of the women had filed a police complaint in the couple of years the situations lasted. He closed with an appeal to any drug dealer who had supplied Kołodziejczak to come forward, promising anonymity.
Absence and the prosecutors' role
Kołodziejczak did not attend the Monday press conference. Rutkowski said that because of the proceeding opened after the notification, Kołodziejczak could not provide information to the media on the allegations.
Michał Kołodziejczak will not be providing information today due to the ongoing proceedings.
Rutkowski stressed who had raised the allegations and who would examine them.
The allegations were raised by the media, not by the prosecutor's office, not by the police.
According to information Rutkowski said he had received on Monday, the prosecutor's office is to deal with the matter and clarify it. Express Ilustrowany reported that Kołodziejczak intends to fight for his good name.
