Do ut des? State capture and financing Law and Justice in Poland after 2015

The aim of this paper is to explore the significance of the clientelism, pork barrel politics and reciprocity in building financial stability of the ruling Law and Justice party from 2015. It was found the number of PiS nominees who earn fortunes in state-owned companies and return money to PiS whilst at the same time transferring donations to the party bank account. It this context, Daniel Obajtek, the president of ORLEN (the largest Polish petrol retailer) repaid to PiS 45000 PLN (approx. 10000 EUR) in November 2022. The scale of this reciprocity might well be illustrated by examining PiS funds spent on the campaign of the European Parliament deputies in 2019. It turned out that 50% of the 4.7 million PLN spent on the campaign was paid for by 250 employees in state-owned companies. Law and Justice controls positions in public administration and NGO funding. These resources are distributed among loyal politicians, their friends and families (patronage) and are designated for organisations that are or might be supportive in the future. This paper presents one of the aspects covered by our manuscript dedicated to the clientelism in Poland.