The European Parliament announced on Friday that Wlodzimierz Karpinski, a former Polish treasury minister, until recently detained as part of a corruption investigation, has been officially recognised as an MEP.
Zbigniew Meissner/PAP

The European Parliament announced on Friday that Wlodzimierz Karpinski, a former Polish treasury minister, until recently detained as part of a corruption investigation, has been officially recognised as an MEP.

The European Parliament confirmed the election of Karpinski and another Polish candidate in a statement issued on Friday.

Their term in office will start on November 20, the day of the next assembly, but they have been officially recognised as MEPs since November 16.

Up until Thursday Karpinski, a treasury minister in the Donald Tusk government in 2013-2015, had been in pre-trial detention due to a corruption investigation that has already seen a former deputy treasury minister, Rafal Baniak, arrested.

Baniak and two businessmen who have also been arrested are suspected of illegally arranging contracts worth a total of PLN 600 million (EUR 137 million) with Warsaw-based waste disposal company MPO, which was headed by Karpinski.

Karpinski came fourth in the 2019 elections to the European Parliament, but was able to take the mandate as the contenders that took first and second places were both elected to the Polish parliament on October 15, and the person who was third in line died in May.