Polish deputy foreign minister charged with misappropriating millions, wife also charged

The charges

Prosecutors presented charges on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, to Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, a PSL MP who is also the sitting deputy foreign minister. The prosecution's communiqué, published on Tuesday, 10 November, lists two offences: misappropriation of entrusted funds and deliberate frustration of a creditor's ability to recover them. His wife received analogous charges. Bartoszewski did not admit guilt and gave brief explanations, while his wife refused to testify further. Prosecutor Przemysław Nowak, the spokesman for the National Prosecutor's Office, said:

“Given the advanced stage of the proceedings, there was no need to secure their further course by applying preventive measures.”

The offences carry a penalty of one to 10 years in prison.

Money entrusted to an art patron

According to prosecutors, Bartoszewski managed assets entrusted to him from 2004 by Andrzej Ciechanowiecki, an art patron who lived in Britain and died in 2015, and from September 2005 funds belonging to the Fundacja Non Omnis Moriar. The first charge covers conduct between 9 July 2012 and 20 February 2015 involving 1 million pounds sterling, 405,000 euro and over 6.6 million zloty. Part of that money went to Bartoszewski's own needs. The rest financed the purchase, renovation and furnishing of three flats in Warsaw, held through a company owned by the couple. Ciechanowiecki had been demanding an accounting since 2009, but prosecutors say Bartoszewski never provided one and began avoiding contact. On 9 July 2012 Ciechanowiecki and the foundation cancelled the agreements and demanded the return of the funds, later transferring their claims to the Ciechanowiecki collection foundation at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

Hidden assets and the Chajęty manor

The second charge covers the period from 16 July 2012 to 9 March 2022. Prosecutors allege that during this time Bartoszewski hid, sold and gave away parts of his assets, aiming to make it impossible to enforce claims in civil court. Among the assets he disposed of was a manor house in Chajęty worth 5 million zloty, which, according to prosecutors, he gave up while anticipating a court judgment ordering the return of the funds. The three Warsaw flats were sold between 2012 and 2015, and the proceeds never went back to Ciechanowiecki. The prosecution says the case rests on witness testimony, bank statements, notarial deeds, land register entries and business correspondence.

Investigation and political reaction

The Mazowiecki branch of the Organised Crime and Corruption Department of the National Prosecutor's Office opened the investigation in May 2024 after a complaint filed by a representative of the Ciechanowiecki collection foundation. Bartoszewski waived his parliamentary immunity in early October, which allowed the charges to be presented. He was elected to the Sejm for a second time in 2023 from the Warsaw constituency on the Third Way list. Jakub Stefaniak, a PSL politician and secretary of state in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, urged caution when he commented on the case:

“Nobody intends to hide or cover anything up here, but let's give time to clarify this matter.”

As of Tuesday, 10 November, PSL's leadership, including party chairman Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, had not commented. Stefaniak said he understood that new circumstances had been presented to the prosecutor, but that he did not know the details.