Der polnische Präsident lehnt es ab, vor einem parlamentarischen Untersuchungsausschuss zu erscheinen. Dies könnte seinem Ruf während seiner letzten Monate im Amt erheblich schaden. Hierüber schreibt Wojciech Kosc in Transitions Online.
Aleksander Kwasniewski is just half a year away from the end of his presidency. But Kwasniewski, a prime mover behind Poland’s drive to join NATO and the European Union, an agent of change during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, Washington’s staunch ally in Iraq, and Poland’s longtime most popular politician, may be in hot water now.
On 15 March, Kwasniewski for the second time failed to show up before the parliamentary commission investigating the unlawful use of the secret service to influence Poland’s oil giant, PKN Orlen. A week earlier, the president cancelled his appearance hours before a scheduled hearing.
Legally, Kwasniewski’s decision is undisputable. No parliamentary body, or the parliament itself, can summon the president to testify. But Kwasniewski himself had previously pledged he would face the commission.
A club of extraordinary gentlemen?
The president apparently changed his mind after sensation-making testimony by arrested lobbyist Marek Dochnal and the former CEO of Poland’s national insurer PZU Grzegorz Wieczerzak. Dochnal testified before the Orlen commission, while Wieczerzak answered questions from the commission investigating the privatization of PZU.
Dochnal is in custody over charges of bribing a member of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), the party with which the officially nonpartisan Kwasniewski is closely tied, last year. Wieczerzak left prison last May on bail but is awaiting trial on charges of defrauding $56 million from his company between 1998 and 2001.
In his secret testimony just a few days before Kwasniewski’s much-expected 8 March appearance before the Orlen commission, Dochnal claimed prominent figures from the president’s office foiled his business plans to secure oil supplies for Poland from sources other than Russia.
Wieczerzak told the PZU commission about an informal „business club“ centered around Kwasniewski, people who allegedly influenced privatization deals to their own benefit. He said the „club“ included Marek Belka (now prime minister), banker Boguslaw Kott, and former dissident, now newspaper editor Adam Michnik. His allegations are being treated with a great deal of skepticism.
At a 7 March press conference arranged to explain his sudden refusal to testify before the Orlen commission, Kwasniewski said he was angry at the actions of opposition party members of both commissions, who leaked Dochnal’s testimony, gave credence to what he said were the suspect allegations of Dochnal and Wieczerzak, and threatened to start impeachment proceedings against him.
“I refuse to meet the investigative commission. I refuse to participate in a political fracas, provoked by some of the commission’s members,” Kwasniewski said on 7 March.
His ire was roused in particular by two parliamentarians from the right-wing League of Polish Families, Roman Giertych, who sits on the Orlen body, and Janusz Dobrosz, a member of the PZU commission.
To read the full article, visit the Transitions Online website.