Bid to strip senior opposition MP of immunity in Poland

The country’s prosecutor-general has submitted a formal request to the lower house of the legislature to strip Sławomir Neumann of his parliamentary immunity, Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported on Thursday.

Neumann is a senior opposition MP who heads the parliamentary caucus of the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party, which led a coalition government in Poland from 2007 to 2015.

Investigators from the District Prosecutor's Office in the southwestern city of Jelenia Góra believe that Neumann overstepped his authority in his onetime role as deputy health minister while acting to the financial benefit of a private medical clinic, IAR said.

The agency identified the clinic as Sensor Cliniq and quoted prosecutors as alleging that the Warsaw-based clinic obtained PLN 13.5 million (roughly EUR 3.2 million, USD 4 million) in illegal financial gain as a result of Neumann's actions.

Prosecutors also suspect Neumann persuaded the director of a regional branch of the government-run National Health Fund in Poland’s central Mazowieckie province to sign an unprofitable contract with Sensor Cliniq, IAR reported.

Neumann told a reporter on Thursday that the allegations were “absurd” and that the case "was previously investigated by an independent prosecutor's office … and no breaches of the law were found."

He also declared he was ready to renounce his parliamentary immunity to face prosecutors.

Under the Polish constitution, the country’s senators and MPs enjoy parliamentary immunity and cannot be held criminally liable without the consent of their houses.

(gs)

Source: IAR, TVP Info