The Wirtualna Polska website (wp.pl) reported on Wednesday that Bartłomiej CIążyński, who was appointed deputy minister by Prime Minister Donald Tusk on July 5, had taken a family holiday to Slovenia shortly afterwards.
For the trip, he used a staff car from his previous position at the Polish Center for Technology Development, a publicly funded research institution where he had worked for less than two months.
In addition to using the car without authorization, Ciążyński also used a company card to pay the trip’s fuel expenses, wp.pl reported.
Ciążyński initially denied the claims, saying he would provide wp.pl with evidence that he had paid for his own fuel, but failed to do so. He subsequently admitted to his “mistake,” issued an apology and tendered his resignation to Tusk.
He told a press conference on Wednesday that he was unaware he was breaking the rules.
“For that mistake I must bear responsibility,” he said. “I also want to highlight that I have repaid... the funds I used to fill the tank.”
Tusk said that Ciążyński was right to quit.
“Resignation accepted,” he wrote on the X platform. “Mistakes happen but must be paid for. This applies particularly to government people.”