Polish prosecutors doubt reports that fugitive ex-deputy minister is hiding in Transnistria
Polish prosecutors say they have no evidence that wanted former deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski is in Transnistria and have rejected his request for immunity guarantees. Investigators point to several inconsistencies in his claims.
Polish prosecutors have found no evidence confirming that fugitive former deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski is actually in Transnistria, the separatist region of Moldova, according to a report by Rzeczpospolita cited by Ukrainska Pravda.
Romanowski reportedly claimed to be staying in Tiraspol, but investigators discovered that the address he provided is in fact an empty lot. Moreover, a letter sent by him was postmarked not from Tiraspol but from another Moldovan town, Bender.
Prosecutors reject immunity request
Rzeczpospolita reports that prosecutors opposed granting Romanowski the immunity guarantees he had requested. The decision was based on information from Moldovan, Romanian and Ukrainian authorities, which found that no person named "Marcin Romanowski" has crossed the borders of those countries in recent years.
Romanowski himself claims he is traveling on a passport issued to someone else, which he says could explain the absence of any trace of his presence in official records. Prosecutors, however, view this as an attempt to evade accountability and doubt the truthfulness of his statements.
According to Rzeczpospolita, prosecutors are in no hurry to confirm his presence in Transnistria, fearing that doing so could lead to the cancellation of the European Arrest Warrant against him and make it easier for him to flee further.
On the run for a year and a half
Marcin Romanowski, former deputy justice minister of Poland, is one of the main figures — alongside former minister Zbigniew Ziobro — in the scandal surrounding the Justice Fund. He has been evading justice abroad for a year and a half. He initially stayed in Hungary, and unlike Ziobro, did not end up in the United States. Instead, he has reportedly been spotted in Serbia and Croatia.
Information recently emerged suggesting Romanowski may be staying in Tiraspol. Poland's Ministry of Defence noted that this could not have happened without the involvement of Russian special services.
