Almost 500,000 złoty—approximately €115,000—has vanished from an employee aid fund at the Chancellery of President Andrzej Duda, according to Polish media outlet Wirtualna Polska. The missing funds were discovered during routine audits of the Aid and Loan Fund, a resource intended to support presidential office employees facing financial difficulties.
The revelation comes at a particularly sensitive moment in Polish politics, as Prime Minister Donald Tusk's coalition government works to restore institutional accountability following years of contentious rule under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) administration. President Duda, aligned with PiS, has been at odds with Tusk's government over judicial reforms and questions of democratic oversight.
According to reports, the missing funds represent a significant breach of financial controls within one of Poland's most prominent state institutions. The Aid and Loan Fund operates as an internal support mechanism for presidential staff, making the disappearance particularly troubling from a governance perspective. Polish prosecutors have been notified, though officials have not yet disclosed whether formal charges have been filed or suspects identified.
The scandal adds to growing tensions between the presidential office and the current government. Tusk's administration has made institutional reform a centerpiece of its agenda, arguing that years of PiS rule weakened checks and balances across Polish state institutions. The missing funds now provide concrete evidence of oversight failures within the presidential apparatus itself.
In Poland, as across Central Europe, history is never far from the surface—and neither is the memory of occupation. Questions of institutional integrity carry particular weight in a country that spent decades under communist control, where state resources were often subject to misappropriation and party officials operated with minimal accountability.
The presidential office has not yet issued a comprehensive public statement addressing the missing funds or explaining what internal controls failed to prevent the disappearance. Opposition politicians from Tusk's Civic Coalition have called for a full investigation and transparency about financial management practices within the chancellery.
President Duda's term extends until 2025, and he has increasingly positioned himself as a check on what he characterizes as the current government's overreach. But the missing funds scandal threatens to undermine that narrative, raising questions about oversight and accountability within his own office at a time when Poland's democratic institutions remain under international scrutiny.
The European Union, which has withheld billions in funding from Poland over rule-of-law concerns, continues to monitor the country's institutional reforms closely. While this particular scandal involves the presidential office rather than the government, it highlights broader challenges facing Polish institutions as they navigate the post-PiS political landscape.
As investigations proceed, the missing funds case serves as a reminder that accountability extends across all branches and offices of government—and that institutional integrity cannot be selectively applied based on political alignment.
