In a bizarre affair that seems more like the plot of a popular movie, national television station TVP has become embroiled in a nepotism scandal that appears to have been entirely masterminded by a 25-year-old charlatan named Pawel Miter.

The complex saga was unfurled by national daily Rzeczpospolita today, Thursday, throwing embarrassing insinuations against TVP, whilst similarly highlighting that the man at the centre of the scandal, Pawel Miter, could serve a prison sentence for fraud.

The affair began on 27 November 2010, when an email from Jacek Michalowski, head of the Presidential Chancellery, arrived in the inbox of the then acting president of TVP, Wlodzimierz Lawniczak.

The mail, which appealed for discretion, proposed a new political program, aimed at 25 – 35 year-olds, and added that “the President would like to draw your attention to a young journalist from Wroclaw named Pawel Miter, who has an idea for this kind of program.”

However, unbeknownst to the director of TVP, the mail was in fact written by Miter himself, who had created a false email address using the @prezydent.pl ending used for official correspondence.

Red Carpet Treatment

The same day he received the message, Mr Lawniczak replied saying that he was “interested in the project.”

The response set in motion a colourful chain of events, in which over a period of two months, the impostor was given the red carpet treatment, winning a lucrative contract of 13,000 zloty per month (the Rzeczpospolita daily states it has a copy of the document), and flunkies serving his whims, which included chauffeur-driven rides that were apparently cleared at the drop of a hat.

“I got the VIP treatment almost immediately,” Miter told the paper.

Miter insists that no one at TVP ever asked for any of his documents at any stage in the process. He says that amongst high-ranking TVP staff, he was always introduced in the same manner: “This is a man from the president’s office.”

Playing with Fire

Test episodes of Miter’s show were apparently due to start filming in early March, according to Rzeczpospolita.

However, on 7 January, Wlodzimierz Lawniczak, acting head of TVP, passed away, following an illness. A month later, on 8 February, Miter’s contract was cancelled.

TVP told Rzeczpospolita that Miter’s program was dropped for a number of reasons. Firstly, that he was “unreliable”, in that he often did not reply to phone calls. Secondly, they cited that when it came to the crunch, a high ranking TVP man, Przemyslaw Wojciechowski, assessed Miter’s project in a negative light. Finally, TVP says it had obtained information that Miter was a charlatan.

Today, now that the project is cancelled, Miter claims that the whole affair was a deliberate exposé.

“From the beginning to the end, it was a provocation from my side,” he told Rzeczpospolita.

“I was able to show that the whole management of TVP fawned over me, just because I had political backing.”

However, Miter could face five years in prison for using a fraudulent email address. Additionally, it has transpired that this is not his first brush with the law.

Meanwhile, TVP claims that Miter tried to blackmail them when matters began to unfold. No charges appear to have been filed as of yet. (nh/jb)