Former deputy foreign minister detained over visa scandal
Poland's Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) has detained a former deputy foreign minister over the so-called cash-for-visa scandal.
Last year Poland, under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, was shaken by a political scandal concerning alleged corruption in the granting of travel visas to thousands of migrants by the then foreign ministry officials and Polish consular service.
In the aftermath, Polish prosecutors brought charges against nine people and Piotr W. (name withheld under Polish law), a deputy foreign minister, lost his job in August 2023.
On Wednesday, the CBA's press office said that Piotr W. had been detained in the central Mazowieckie province in a probe into payments for an acceleration in visa procedures.
CBA officers also searched the apartment of the former deputy foreign minister.
According to the CBA, the evidence shows that W. while in charge of the consular department in the years 2019-2023 "breached the procedures in force at the ministry as regards the registration and circulation of documents."
W. was charged with "abuse of power in order to obtain a financial benefit by another person and the disclosure of information to an unauthorised person" in the period from February 2022 to May 2023. The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Having presented the charges to W., the prosecutor granted him PLN 100,000 (EUR 22,731) bail.
W. pleaded not guilty and refused to comment.
Prosecutors had said earlier that the visa applications concerned foreigners submitting applications to Polish diplomatic missions in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Philippines and Qatar. (PAP)
mr/md/ej
