A centerpiece of efforts by the new pro-European administration to uncover the truth on alleged wrongdoing during the eight years of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) rule - this probe has taken on a new dimension due to media reports that members of the former ruling party were themselves victims of phone hacking.

If found to be true, such reports could blow apart an opposition that has thus far been united in defense of its record and actions of ministers that the new government says broke the law.

Reports in 2021 by the Associated Press claiming that the software, developed by Israel-based NSO Group, was used to hack the phones of government critics, including the head of the election campaign of what was then the largest opposition party, drew accusations that security services had eroded democratic norms.

“It was the most anti-democratic behavior during the electoral process that is possible to imagine,” said the Civic Coalition (KO) lawmaker Jacek Karnowski, himself reportedly a victim of phone hacking. “A person has a right to privacy,” the lawmaker added.

The new government has set about implementing a reform agenda in the courts, state media and state-controlled companies in a bid to wipe away what it says are effects of politicization and cronyism under PiS. Law and Justice calls it a political witch-hunt and says it always acted legally.