Former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted in Poland for fraud and leading an organised crime ring, is reportedly in the US, Polish media said.

Ziobro left for the US after living in Hungary, where he was granted asylum by the then government of Viktor Orban. Ziobro says the incumbent Polish administration of Prime Minister Donald Tusk wants him to exact political revenge for his work in the Law and Justice (PiS) government.

Investigators suspect Ziobro of committing a total of 26 offences, including founding and directing an organised criminal group within the justice ministry that allegedly misappropriated more than PLN150mn (€35.4mn) from funds intended to assist victims of crime and former prisoners.

A related charge concerns the illegal purchase of the Israeli surveillance software Pegasus to monitor political opponents, according to the prosecution. If indicted, the former minister faces up to 25 years in prison.

Following a government change in Hungary in April, Warsaw hoped the new Prime Minister Peter Magyar would facilitate handing over Ziobro but the former Polish minister apparently moved faster, leaving Hungary on a so-called Geneva passport guaranteed to him as part of his asylum status.

Polish authorities said on May 11 they would ask Hungary about the circumstances of Ziobro’s leaving the country and also inquire the US administration about how the fugitive former minister entered the US.

Polish prosecutors handling Ziobro’s case said extraditing him would be a long and difficult process. Ziobro is not formally sought internationally by a European Arrest Warrant or an Interpol Red Notice. He is wanted in Poland but there is an appeal pending against the warrant that a court will only review in September. 

Poland’s relations with the US further complicate the matter. Warsaw considers the US a strategic ally, but the Tusk government and the opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki differ in their approach to President Donald Trump, who backed Nawrocki in last year’s election. 

The Trump administration appears likely to voice support for PiS ahead of next year’s election, which might see Ziobro return to Poland if PiS reclaims power.

Ziobro was a key architect of the Law and Justice (PiS) government’s judiciary reforms during the party’s two terms in office between 2015 and 2023.

The Tusk government has long said it is going to bring key PiS officials to justice for corruption. Ziobro and PiS deflect charges as political.

"We will not cease our efforts to ensure that [Ziobro] and Marcin Romanowski [Ziobro's former deputy] are held accountable before the Polish justice system," Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said in social media on May 10.