The power of the law lies in its values

"The power of the law lies in its values". - Prof. Michał Romanowski comments on the refusal of the NIK inspection at Orlen for Wyborcza.pl

"PKN Orlen refused to let NIK inspectors in for an inspection. According to Orlen, NIK has no right to inspect Orlen's merger with Lotos and PGNiG, and therefore also the transaction with Saudi Aramco.

President Obajtek and his legal advisors, whose names are gradually becoming known to the public, may hide behind the letter of the law, but (...) there is no such thing as the letter of the law detached from the purpose of the law. The letter of the law is the carrier of the law's function. For the power of the law lies in its values, not in its form. The government of the Republic of Poland has a special duty of care to values.

Thwarting an audit of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) is an offence under Article 98 of the NIK Act. The public prosecutor's office did not see any violation of the law in PKN Orlen's behaviour. Under normal circumstances, I would say that this is shocking, because the prosecutor's office becomes a kind of advocate for PKN Orlen, while it should be upholding the public interest. Unfortunately, observing from behind the scenes - as a lawyer representing free judges such as Paweł Juszczyszyn and Igor Tuleya - how the prosecutor's office acts in the case of notices of refusal to enforce final court decisions, how the neo-KRS instigates court presidents not to enforce final court decisions, CJEU and ECHR rulings, what happens in the Constitutional Court, how the neo-president of the Supreme Court, Ms Manowska, refuses to enforce the resolution of the Polish Senate on the swearing in of jurors, I am not surprised. We have a complete breakdown of the judiciary. The board of PKN Orlen is behaving like the board of the East India Company, which had its own law, its own army and even minted its own coin. We are waiting for the decision of the President of the OCCP on the "price miracle" at Orlen stations. I think we will hear that Orlen as a private company had the right to conduct its own pricing policy, but we will see."

We invite you to read the entire opinion - link HERE.