Barely a month before the parliamentary elections, the Polish government is shocked by a huge corruption scandal. The Public Prosecution Service is investigating several people – including Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau and his deputy Piotr Wawryzk – on suspicion that they accelerated the issuance of work visas in exchange for payment. We are talking about 350,000 migrant workers who have allegedly been brought into the EU illegally in the last three years.
At the end of August, the deputy foreign minister responsible for consular affairs, Piotr Wawrzyk, was dismissed. At the same time, his department was raided by the anti-corruption agency CBA. According to reports from the portal Onet and the daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Wawrzyk is said to have been the mastermind behind a system in which intermediaries offered Polish visas for large sums of money. Migrants from Asia and Africa often continued to travel in the Schengen area on the basis of their Polish visa – for example to Germany.
Did the deputy minister try to commit suicide?
Multiple-entry visas were particularly popular. Anyone who has a multiple-entry visa for the Schengen area can also enter Mexico – and can therefore reach the US. According to the information, people in India are said to have paid intermediaries up to $40,000 (about €37,300) to obtain a Polish multiple-entry visa.
According to Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, the deputy foreign minister is in hospital after a suicide attempt. However, his former employer rejects any contractual agreements with the suspected intermediaries or bodies.
Before the parliamentary elections on October 15, the visa issue is putting pressure on the ruling PiS party. Because Warsaw opposes the EU’s asylum compromise, which provides for the mandatory admission of refugees. The government wants to hold a referendum on this parallel to the parliamentary elections.
Poland has also refused for years to take back migrants who came to the EU through its territory. The sometimes violent rejection of migrants at the Belarusian-Polish border, where there is also a huge fence, is also part of the repertoire of Polish asylum policy.
“Visa affair could bring down PiS government”
Opposition leader Donald Tusk of the liberal-conservative Civic Platform (PO), who wants to prevail in the upcoming parliamentary elections and return to government, gratefully acknowledged reports of the scandal and accused the ruling PiS of hypocrisy given its tough stance against EU asylum policy .
However, the government immediately counterattacked, accusing Tusk of causing numerous Polish consular branches abroad to be closed and replaced by private contractors during his term from 2007 to 2014. After the scandal became public last week, the daily newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza” wrote: “The visa affair could bring down the PiS government.”
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
