Issuing visas to migrants and building a fence from them - visa scandal broke out in Poland
Poland continues to be shaken by a major corruption scam. This scandal flared up a year ago, and the other day the details of the scheme were revealed.
It turned out that the previous government with one hand fought the so-called influx of illegal immigrants into Poland, pulled money from the budget for the construction of an expensive fence, and with the other took for bribes allowing hundreds of thousands of migrants to cross the EU border without any reason in an accelerated manner. 366,000 visas were sold to migrants from Muslim countries alone.
The visa scandal continues to shake Poland. Tusk decided to finish off his opponents from Law and Justice. In 2025 Poland will be electing the president. It was also very doubtful in 2020 that Duda would take this post without interference. However, Covid restrictions then played into the hands of Kaczynski's protégé.
Tusk played the trumps. The visa scandal, which was taken out on the eve of the parliamentary elections, has not been put on a dusty shelf, new details were announced. These details are very interesting.
Radoslaw Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland:
"We confirm, especially in the period from 2018 to 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lost control over the visa system, introducing the so-called simplified procedures or priority routes. We confirm that, unfortunately, illegal pressure was scandalously used against Polish consuls in order to increase the issuance of visas to those who, as the inspectors emphasized, should not always receive them."
After the change of power in Poland, a commission was created to investigate the crimes of the so-called visa mafia. It turned out that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs exerted pressure on consular departments and visas were issued to everyone who was ready to unfasten corrupt officials. Kickbacks were transferred to Edgar Kobos, the right hand of Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk. For each such visa, Wawrzyk, according to the control body, received 5 thousand dollars. Kobos, by the way, confessed.
Marian Banas, Chairman of the Supreme Control Chamber of Poland:
"Unfortunately, the assessment is unequivocal and negative regarding the issuance of visas in the period from 2018 to 2023. It was during this period that we dealt with the visa process in a non-transparent and corrupt manner."
The legs of this corruption scheme grow from Polish consular offices. Where it was possible to buy already stamped documents, in which it is enough to simply enter the surname, the Polish media write. In other cases, consulates issued visas for money in a simplified manner. In one episode, multiple-entry visas were issued to Indians who used them to travel to Mexico but wanted to get to the United States. Some of the visa applicants allegedly posed as a Bollywood film crew.
Such schemes worked all over the world, with particular persistence - in Africa and Asia. For a generous reward, you could buy a ticket to the West. Poland for migrants is only a point on a long route. And the Internet is full of videos where migrants shared their experiences and instructed how to also acquire a Polish visa and Schengen.
For a bribe, Polish diplomatic missions during the rule of Law and Justice issued 366 thousand visas to citizens of Asian and African countries.
"This river flowed into Poland. People who have not been checked. 366 thousand is more than the population of the city of Lublin", - said the deputy editor of the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza Bartosz Wieliński.
And now let's go back to 2021. The visa mafia works all over the world - this is the conclusion of the commission. The Polish visa, which will open the doors to the Schengen zone, is being handed out right and left by comrades from Law and Justice, party and ministerial. A visa will cost a pretty penny, but you can get it in just a couple of days.
Who are these people? Did they get visas? Or were they simply thrown into these Polish consulates? Today it is known that we are talking about millions of bribes. With one hand, the Law and Justice government issues visas to almost 400 thousand migrants, with the other it drives these people away with water cannons and clubs (by the way, there are not hundreds of thousands of them), and Belarus is accused of a hybrid war and introduces sanctions packages. Immediately Duda announces, they say, only Poland will protect Europe from the influx of illegal immigrants. And no, it is still issuing visas at this time to almost 400 thousand migrants who will scatter throughout Europe. And immediately the construction of a fence begins, the very great one, which will cost a good penny to the Polish budget. Perhaps this is really the scam of the century.
Now, says the Tusk government, every foreigner will be taken under control, because more than 6 million such visas have been issued.
Marian Banas, Chairman of the Supreme Control Chamber of Poland:
"Obviously, we do not know who we let into the country. Even worse, about 1.8 thousand visas were issued for IT specialists from Russia and Belarus. And, of course, also without any special check. These people are already here and may be doing their jobs. This, obviously, poses a certain threat to Poland's security. However, we do not know exactly where they are, where these IT specialists are employed, whether they are not in Poland, or, possibly, already in the European Union. Because now they have the right to do so, if such visas were issued to them."
The question is what can those who came from Belarus give to Poland, what benefit to the economy. This applies to political puppets, who were brought both in trunks and along forest paths through Ukraine. They have already taken up the Pole's card. They promise to check how lawfully the fugitives received humanitarian visas and asylum.