Commission investigating visa corruption recommends prosecution of ex-PM and other ministers

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

A parliamentary commission investigating alleged corruption in Poland’s visa system under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government has adopted its final report, accusing senior officials of widespread irregularities.

Notices of suspected criminal offences will be filed with prosecutors against 11 people, including senior PiS figures such as former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and former foreign minister Zbigniew Rau.

PiS, which is now in opposition after a new government took office last December, dismissed the findings as politically motivated, with one of its MPs arguing that the report does not show “a single visa issued illegally”.

Komisja śledcza do spraw afery wizowej złoży zawiadomienie do prokuratury wobec 11 osób, w tym prominentnych polityków @pisorgpl. https://t.co/HRenyizXuV

— Interia (@Int_Wydarzenia) December 3, 2024

Last year, shortly before the elections in which PiS lost its majority, reports emerged of irregularities in the visa system including allegations of corruption that had allowed some applicants to effectively pay to skip the normal process.

The alleged corruption reportedly reached the upper echelons of the foreign ministry, with diplomats testifying that they were pressured to issue visas to certain applicants. Among those detained and charged in relation to the case was a deputy foreign minister, Piotr Wawrzyk.

After PiS lost power, the new ruling majority in parliament established a special committee to investigate the scandal. It has now adopted its final report.

According to the commission, Rau – who led the foreign ministry from 2020 to 2023 – abused his power by establishing consular centres “despite a lack of substantive, organisational and economic justification for such a decision,” reports news website Onet.

A report by Poland’s state auditor has found large-scale irregularities in the issuing of visas under the former PiS government.

Over 366,000 were granted to people from Asia and Africa while others were given to Russians after the invasion of Ukraine https://t.co/13bcJkfA2C

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 24, 2024

In addition, the commission said that Rau, Morawiecki and former development minister Jadwiga Emilewicz abused their powers implementing without legal basis a programme, known as Poland Business Harbour, that expedited visas processing for IT specialists and companies.

The commission alleges that inadequate oversight of the programme – which was launched in September 2020 and suspended in January this year by the new government – resulted in threats to national security due to the failure to properly verify recipients of visas, including Russian citizens.

The commission also found that former PiS interior minister Mariusz Kamiński and the former head of the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA), Andrzej Stróżny, failed to act on criminal activities in the foreign ministry related to legalising the stay of foreigners, reports Onet.

Meanwhile, the report alleges that corrupt practices in the foreign ministry included unauthorised “fast track” visa issuance and the approval of applicant lists, allegedly directed by Wawrzyk, who was responsible for consular affairs.

 

Wawrzyk and his associate Edgar Kobos, who has also been charged, facilitated visas for unqualified applicants, including 358 from a list of names submitted by Kobos, reports Polsat News, citing the commission’s report.

The final report was approved by the committee with seven votes in favour and three against. It will now be presented to the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, and debated there.

However, the deputy head of the commission, PiS MP Daniel Milewski, criticised its findings, saying they are “unsupported by reality”. He argued that the report does not provide evidence of the illegal issuing of visas or details of those responsible.

“Before you make an allegation against any senior official, show what kind of pressure, if any, he or she exerted on a particular person,” said Milewski during the commission’s meeting yesterday, quoted by news website 300Polityka.

Posłowie @pisorgpl złożą zdanie odrębne do raportu z prac komisji ds. wiz! @DanielMilewski: Komisja nie doszła do fundamentalnej sprawyhttps://t.co/Uthr8iegzK

— wPolityce.pl (@wPolityce_pl) December 3, 2024

During the eight years that PiS was in power, Poland experienced levels of immigration unprecedented in the country’s history and among the highest in the European Union. For the last seven years running, Poland has issued more first residence permits to non-EU immigrants than any other member state.

The new government, led by Donald Tusk, came to power after accusing PiS of losing control of the immigration system through corruption and incompetence. Earlier this year, a report by Poland’s state auditor found that the PiS government had overseen an “unlawful, corruption-prone” visa system.

Since taking office, Tusk’s government has taken measures to restrict the issuing of visas and last month it approved a new migration strategy that would include a “transparent visa policy…based on a selective approach to migration”.

Poland’s government has approved a tough new migration strategy that will include temporarily suspending the acceptance of asylum claims if „immigrants threaten to destabilise the state”

Four left-wing ministers voiced dissenting opinions against the plan https://t.co/xiCy3Qa052

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 15, 2024

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.



Main image credit: KPRM (under CC BY 3.0 PL)

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.