Poland starts hearings on visa scandal

Hearings on the visa scandal begin in Poland. The first witnesses will appear before the parliamentary commission to investigate the visa scandal on February 26. This is reported by BelTA with reference to the Polish Press Agency (PPA).

The former deputy head of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Piotr Wawrzyk and his colleague Edgar K will be questioned. Both are facing charges in the framework of the investigation, conducted by the prosecutor's office in Lublin. The commission will then hear from the former consul general of the Republic of Poland in Mumbai, Damian Jerzyk, and his deputy on February 27.

"We are launching a parliamentary investigation. The witnesses summoned have confirmed their presence," Michał Szczerba, a Sejm deputy from the Civic Platform party, told PPA, head of the commission on visa scandals. He said the commission already has information and documents from the prosecutor's office, the Foreign Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Border Guard Service, which he requested during the February 6 meeting.

"The testimony of Piotr Wawrzyk and Edgar K. is crucial to understanding how the scheme of issuing visas for bribes developed and why it could continue for so long without a decisive reaction from the state and relevant services," Shcherba said.

"The preliminary information is shocking in terms of the scale of corruption and the lack of an adequate response from the state," he said. The commission has 60 volumes of the prosecutor's case at its disposal. Szczerba said that while working on the materials, the investigation commission also discovered new data that had not been covered by the investigation so far. The Foreign Ministry noticed serious violations in the program of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency "Poland. Business Harbour", through which IT specialists and startup participants could quickly obtain a national visa.

He added that testimony before the investigative commission is likely to expand prosecutors' knowledge of the visa scandal. Shcherba recalled that last year an audit of the Foreign Ministry was initiated in connection with the visa scandal. He said that, as far as he knows, the results of the check should be presented soon.

On August 31, 2023, Piotr Wawrzyk, who was in charge of consular affairs, including the visa issuance system, was dismissed from the post of State Secretary of the Polish Foreign Ministry. The reason given was "lack of satisfactory cooperation." A few days later, Mateusz Morawiecki (then Poland's prime minister) admitted that Wawrzyk's dismissal was related to the activities of the CBA, Poland's intelligence agency for fighting corruption in the public and private sectors. In the following days, media reports began to surface that Polish visas were being issued for money and out of turn by Polish consular officials and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In January 2024, Wawrzyk was detained by officers of the Lublin branch of the CBA in connection with the visa scandal.