Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński has dismissed Jacek Kaczmarek, interior minister since February 2007, in connection with the anti-corruption bureau investigation over illegal land deals, which has rocked the ruling coalition since the story broke four weeks ago.

Though not going into details about the reasons for the dismissal, PM Kaczyński said that Kaczmarek ‘found himself in the range of suspicion regarding the affair.’

Kaczynski refers to the investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau into illegal land deals which led to the dismissal of Andrzej Lepper as vice-premier and agricultural minister.

“Yesterday, I came to Warsaw to talk to the minister and was misled,“ said PM Kaczynski. “I asked him about certain facts which I already knew, and [he replied in such a way that was] different from the facts as they are,” said the premier.

Kaczmarek is thought to be one of many individuals who leaked details of the anti-corruption investigation into the public domain, obstructing the enquiry and making it more difficult to make arrests and bring charges.

Meanwhile President Lech Kaczyński recommended the new interior minister, former head of the National Security Bureau, Wladyslaw Stasiak, and underlined that he is of ‘high competence and honesty’.

The president said that from the long list of internal affairs ministers since 1989 Stasiak “Will be the best.” The president added that, “This time I will not be wrong.”

The ministry of interior has been one government department which has seen its minister change regularly since Law and Justice came to power in late 2005. Stasiak is the third interior minister, taking over from Ludwik Dorn seven months ago.

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