2019-01-30 12:53 update: 2019-02-01, 20:21
Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Poland's main opposition party Civic Platform (PO) on Wednesday notified the prosecutors of an alleged crime committed by Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) after a daily published Kaczyński's taped conversation with a businessman.
PO accuses Kaczyński of influence-peddling, alluding to influence and abuse of power as a public official.
At issue is the investment project of Srebrna, a company affiliated with PiS, which involves the construction of two high-rise buildings in downtown Warsaw. One of them would house the Lech Kaczynski Foundation, named after Jarosław’s late twin brother and former president of Poland, who was killed in a 2010 plane crash. The construction was meant to be financed by a PLN 1.3 bln (EUR 300 mln) loan from the Polish bank Pekao SA, according to the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, which published a transcript of a July 2018 conversation between Austrian businessman Gerald Birgfellner and Kaczyński.
On Tuesday, PO MPs urged the PiS leader to disclose all his assets.
"As we promised yesterday, we're filing notification today (...)," PO MP Marcin Kierwiński told a press conference on Wednesday. Kierwiński added that the revealed recordings are "shocking" and present standards that were so far "seen in Eastern Europe."
Kaczyński has been accused by Gerald Birgfellner of failing to pay him for work related to the construction project.
Birgfellner's lawyer, Jacek Dubois, said on Tuesday that he had notified the prosecutors about suspected criminal activity by Jarosław Kaczyński. (PAP)
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