Politicians from across the spectrum have been reacting to the police detentions, Thursday, of former interior minister Janusz Kaczmarek, former police chief Konrad Kornatowski, and head of the PZU state insurance company chief Jaromir Netzel, and the police search for one of Poland’s richest men, Ryszard Krauze. All four are being, or will be, questioned over an alleged corruption scandal that has resulted in ministers dismissed and the governing coalition in Poland dissolved.
Former vice prime ministers from the now defunct government coalition – Self defense’s Andrzej Lepper and League of Polish Families’ Roman Giertych – organized a small demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s office in the centre of Warsaw (above) in protest against what they see as an increasingly ‘dictatorial’ government.
Lepper said that the current situation in Poland is worse than, “Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union.”
“Today, democratic standards have been transformed into a farce by a group of bandit, political gangsters. They dream of what is happening behind our eastern borders, where Lukashenko [in Belarus] imprisons his political opponents,“ said Roman Giertych.
Donald Tusk, the leader of the largest opposition party in Poland, Civic Platform (PO), said today’s arrests, “Are very similar to mafia dealings, when the key witness wants to break the conspiracy of silence,” and are a sign that the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), “wants to hide something” and is making decisions influenced by “panic” which could result from the testimonies of the witnesses.
Former interior minister Janusz Kaczmarek has been giving evidence to a behind closed doors special parliamentary commission on allegations that he obstructed an investigation into an alleged corrupt land deal, which led to the dismissal of Andrzej Lepper from the government earlier this month.
Former police chief, Konrad Kornatowski, was to be interrogated by the special parliamentary committee this morning.
The leader of PO appealed to President Lech Kaczyński to take a stand on recent events.
“The President should explain what is happening in Poland, where his, until recently closest co-workers, are being arrested. The President cannot pretend any longer that this has nothing to do with him,” said Tusk.
President Lech Kaczynski retorted that the public prosecutor was simply following legal procedures in a wide ranging enquiry.
“I am not suprised by the detention of Kaczmarek,” said President Kaczynski on Polish Radio. He said that the evidence that led to the detention will be made public.
“There is no panic. What is happening is in accordance with the law.”
One of Poland’s richest men, Ryszard Krauze, has been connected with the corruption investigation since he allegedly met Janusz Kaczmarek in a Warsaw hotel at the time the leak to the Anti-Corruption Bureau took place.
Krauze was not at his home today and is believed to be on holiday, although his location is not known.
Since the news that the police wanted to detain him, shares in companies where Krauze is a major shareholder have plummeted at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, losing up to 700 million zloty (nearly 100 million pound sterling) in value. (photo:
Jakub Szymczuk)
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