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Polish Watergate? The time has come for transparency in Poland!
Warsaw, Poland 16 August, 2007 A call for an Independent Investigation into the CBA Affair: What government officials in Poland were behind what appears to be a politically motivated and perhaps Unconstitutional Provocation and firing of the Agriculture Minister? Who knew what when?
Poland is once again in agony in the throes of a severe politically self inflicted wound. The current crisis points to government officials at the highest levels being complicit in ordering a 'sting operation' aimed at provoking the now former Minister of Agriculture Andrzej Lepper to be caught taking bribes. The current Prime Minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski makes no apologies about his loath for his party's junior coalition partner Lepper. The rhetoric back and forth has been at a fever pitch almost from the first day of the formation of this "Three Stooges" political stage show and it came to a head during the month of July of this year.
The Prime Minister, in an oddly paranoid fashion sees ghosts everywhere he turns. He is swift to claim that others are guilty of spurious and diaphanous charges before being proven to be innocent. This is in direct contradiction to the bodies of law that are generally accepted in the West as a charged person is innocent until proven guilty. The Prime Minister has swung a swift sword to dismiss both government employees and senior management at state owned/controlled companies without offering a shred of objective proof as to guilt or as the case may be incompetence. Turnover at the ministerial level has been like a revolving door which does nothing to inspire confidence that there is any semblance of continuity of management which often leads to an effete organization. The actions are reminiscent of the days of the former communists and are to say the least 'Stalinesque'. For a man who is a devout patriot, his actions are anything but. The repercussions of these seemingly megalomaniacal acts have shaken Poland's political system to the core. As a result, voter satisfaction, the public's trust of their politicians and their political system are at an all time low.
Ostensibly a complex operation was ordered to trap the Minister into taking a bribe to approve the rezoning of low value agricultural land into a high value multi use designation. If the rezoning had been successful the value of the land would increase by a value so significant that the landowner would reap rewards in the millions of dollars by the revaluation of the property in question. In then end, Mr. Lepper did not approve of the rezoning hence the 'sting' was mooted. However, two individuals, not related to Lepper were arrested in the aborted affair.
Given the machinations of the present governments apparatus, there is great speculation that the sting operation was possibly ordered by the current Prime Minister as a way to discredit the sitting Agriculture Minister. Mr. Lepper's party the 'Self Defense' party has minimal voter support and was part of Kaczynski's 'Grand Coalition' along with the ultra right wing 'League of Polish Families' which is chaired by Roman Giertych. Together, the three parties constituted a bloc that was able to garner a majority in the Polish parliament. However, as with any coalition of very politically disparate parties, infighting and dissension became an every day occurrence.
Discovering the Truth
In order to ascertain the truth about this operation, an independent, non-political investigative board must be seated immediately. This body must have the remit to develop a factual report of the activities of all government officials and their roles in what appears to be an anti-democratic government sponsored action.The current government can, based on it's history not be trusted to assemble this investigative panel. It's past attempts at publicly investigating wrong doing within the government has proven to be feckless at best and have been ridden with party politics, conflicts of interest and simple incompetence.
The best approach in getting the truth would be for the President or Constitutional Tribunal to order the formation of this 'Blue Ribbon Commission' and to provide them with sweeping subpoena powers to get to the truth. It is very doubtful that the President would have the stomach for this as he would be ordering the investigation into the activities of the Prime Minister's office and of course the President and Prime Minister are twin brothers. In any event, having the Polish government conduct an investigation of this importance would be like asking the fox to guard the chickens while the farmer is in town.
Finding truly independent, apolitical committee members in a country as politically and socially fractious as Poland will be a challenge to say the least. Members must be beyond reproach, have no political aims and above all be strong enough to discharge their duties no matter where the scent takes them. They should also agree on a reasonable time line to achieve a comprehensive, publicly broadcast investigation. (Investigations historically undertaken by the Polish government have been circus-like, partisan, and endless and have not brought coherent conclusions with confusing, contradictory summary reports)
Politicians such as Wojciech Olejniczak of the Social Democratic Left party as well as Deputy chief of the opposition Civic Platform party, Bronislaw Komorowski have called for sweeping investigations into the actions of the CBA (Anti Corruption Bureau). Both reportedly strongly suggest that investigations take place prior to the upcoming snap elections which are expected later this fall. They must be sensing blood in the water and are circling tightly around what they see to be a wounded opponent.
Will Poland take the right path with respect to this and move toward true transparency or will it remain opaque? Only time will tell.
Written by "The Pen". "The Pen" is a private contributor to the Poland Outlook and has asked to keep his identity confidential, as he puts it, "for obvious reasons".
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