Tusk Drops Immunity to Fight Crypto Donation Lawsuit

Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister and leader of the Civic Coalition (KO) party, has voluntarily waived his parliamentary immunity, the PAP news agency has reported. Government spokesperson Adam Szlapka confirmed that the prime minister has already filed the relevant request with the speaker of the Sejm.

The move comes in response to a private criminal complaint for defamation and a motion to strip Tusk of his immunity, filed by the Institute for a Sovereign Poland, an organization linked to Zbigniew Ziobro. Ziobro, as chairman of the Sovereign Poland party, was part of the former government within the United Right coalition led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party. His party ceased to exist in 2024, when it merged with PiS.

Accusations on Both Sides

Tensions between Tusk and the former justice minister Ziobro flared after the prime minister, invoking a report from the Internal Security Agency (ABW), alleged that the institute's foundation had received roughly €105,000 ($120,200) from the head of the cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto at the end of 2025.

A further €70,000 ($81,140) were reportedly sent by an affiliated company to the foundation of opposition MP Przemyslaw Wipler (Confederation). Piotr Cieplucha, a representative of the institute, rejected these claims, saying they were an attempt by Tusk to distract from his own government's failures in the Zondacrypto affair.

Government spokesperson Szlapka said Tusk had waived his immunity precisely because he was unafraid of a trial and stood firmly behind his statements. The move also drew praise from Krzysztof Brejza, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and a member of Tusk's own party.

Brejza said the prime minister had shown political courage and a sense of responsibility, in contrast to opposition politicians whom he accused of evading justice. The immunity request will now go before the relevant parliamentary committee for formal review.

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The Crypto Exchange Lobby

Writing on social media in late April, Cieplucha argued that instead of taking responsibility for his government's gross negligence and the complete inaction of his subordinates in the Zondacrypto case, Tusk had instead resorted to slander and political attacks against the foundation. He described this as a cynical, deliberate attempt by the prime minister to evade responsibility for his own incompetence.

He was referring to the fact that Zondacrypto continues to operate legally and undisturbed in the country, even though reports have emerged that the company has failed to meet its financial obligations to clients and sponsors.

Donald Tusk. Foto: Lukasz Glowala/Reuters — Donald Tusk. Photo: Lukasz Glowala/Reuters

Tusk's accusation, however, goes further and is more serious. He alleges that representatives of the crypto exchange in Poland sent substantial sums of money to the aforementioned foundations for lobbying purposes, a term many view as a euphemism for bribery. The donations arrived amid heated political debate over a bill to regulate the country's crypto market, which President Karol Nawrocki subsequently vetoed.

Wipler counters that the money could not have influenced the bill's rejection in any way and accuses Tusk of misusing the ABW for political ends. Following the presidential veto, the bill, intended to implement the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, failed to secure enough votes to override the veto and has therefore not yet entered into force.

Tusk believes the bill lost some of its support because of a monetary donation from a crypto company to the foundations of two opposition representatives, from the Confederation and PiS. The government continues to insist that the law is necessary to grant the Polish Financial Supervision Authority broader powers over crypto oversight.