Poland charges former security chiefs over use of Pegasus spyware

Prosecutors have charged two former heads of Polish security agencies in relation to the use of Pegasus spyware under the former Law and Justice (PiS) government.

They are accused of abusing their powers by approving the use of the powerful Israeli-made tool, which allows surveillance of mobile devices, despite being aware of legal shortcomings. Both of them deny wrongdoing.

The development is the latest move by the current authorities to investigate the use of Pegasus under PiS, which has been accused of unlawfully purchasing the spyware and of employing it spy on political opponents rather than genuine criminal suspects.

On Wednesday, prosecutors announced charges against Piotr Pogonowski, who headed the Internal Security Agency (ABW) from 2016 to 2022, and Maciej Materka, who led the Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW) from 2018 to 2022.

Both of them are accused of failing to fulfil their duties by allowing the use of Pegasus despite knowing that it did not have the required security accreditation and without verifying whether the system ensured the proper security classification of information processed by it.

This meant that they failed to ensure the proper conduct of operational and reconnaissance activities, as required by law, as well as the protection of classified information. Their actions were thereby “to the detriment of the public interest”, say prosecutors.

If found guilty of abusing their powers, each of the suspects could face up to three years in prison.

In a statement on social media, Materka denied the accusations against him and said that, as head of the SKW, “it was my duty to provide officers with the necessary and best possible tools for the performance of their statutory tasks”.

“All operational activities conducted during my leadership at the SKW were undertaken solely on the basis of legally required decisions and court approvals,” he added. Pogonski likewise issued a statement saying that the ABW under his leadership “always complied with legal regulations”.

Pogonski also aimed a shot at the current government, saying that, when he had led the agency, “the effectiveness of the security services was very high – for example, there were no shopping malls on fire, no train tracks being blown up, etc”.

That was a reference to a series of incidents of Russian sabotage, including an arson attack on Warsaw’s biggest shopping centre and sabotage of a rail line, that have taken place in Poland since the current government replaced PiS in December 2023.

The PiS government, which approved the purchase of Pegasus in 2017, argued that it was a necessary tool to fight crime and ensure national security. But critics noted that it was used to surveil PiS’s political opponents.

Since replacing PiS in office, the current government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, has pledged to hold to account any officials involved in crimes relating to Pegasus.

In 2024, the justice minister announced that almost 600 people were targeted for surveillance using Pegasus, including some political opponents of PiS. Last year, Tusk himself revealed that his wife and daughter had been among those caught up in the surveillance.

Last October, a former PiS deputy justice minister was indicted over his role in the alleged illegal purchase of Pegasus from its Israeli manufacturer. Days later, a former deputy head of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) was charged with unlawfully sharing material obtained using Pegasus.

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.