Polish wiretapping affair (2006)

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The Polish wiretapping affair (Polish: Afera taśmowa , also Taśmy Beger ) in 2006 was the first major corruption scandal for the government of Jarosław Kaczyński . Two representatives of the ruling party had offered a member of parliament from another party to change government positions and financial support. The conversation was filmed undercover and later broadcast.

history

After the Polish parliamentary elections in 2005 , the Samoobrona party became a member of the government coalition led by the Law and Justice Party (PiS). On September 22nd, 2006 the coalition broke; the ruling party PiS alone did not have a majority in the Sejm. As a result, several Samoobrona MPs switched to the PiS , which tried to maintain power.

Transfer offer

Shortly after September 22, 2006, Renata Beger , a member of the Samoobrona Party and a close colleague of the then party leader Andrzej Lepper , met with the head of the State Chancellery of Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyńskis , Adam Lipiński, and his deputy Wojciech Mojzesowicz in a guest house in the Polish parliament . It is unclear who initiated the talks. The two representatives of the Law and Justice party offered Beger a transfer to the ruling party. In that case, she could keep her post as State Secretary in the Polish Ministry of Agriculture. Lipiński said: "That is the least problem, we have a lot of posts". In addition, financial compensation for a contractual penalty announced by Lepper (EUR 137,000.00) when leaving the Samoobrona from public funds is conceivable. There was also talk of a favorable place on the list as well as employing Beger's family and friends.

publication

With the help of two journalists, Beger had hidden a camera at the meeting place before the meeting. On June 26, 2006, the recorded conversation was broadcast by TVN in the program “Teraz my” (Now we are).

Reactions

International media initially saw the poaching campaign as a dubious attempt by the Kaczyński government to reorganize a government capable of holding a majority. The opposition in the Polish parliament immediately charged the ruling party with bribery and corruption. Deputy Sejm Marshal and politician of the Polish People's Party , Jarosław Kalinowski , said on television: “This is corruption. That is repulsive. ”The head of the Platforma Obywatelska (PO), Donald Tusk , also accused the government of corruption and called for the resignation of the prime minister and new elections. The Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza proclaimed the "end of the Jarosław Kaczyński government" as a result of the affair.

A survey carried out after the conversation was broadcast showed that 66% of those questioned rated the process as political corruption and supported the resignation of the government. In a further survey, however, 58% of the participants saw the process as a staged provocation against the ruling party; it was not a bribe.

Prime Minister Kaczyński also initially denied an illegal measure by his party. Recording and publication are rather a “counterattack” by interested “circles” and old “clans” who oppose the government's consistent purge policy. In a speech to the nation, he downplayed the attempted bribery as one of many conversations his party had had to find a majority for its policy of change. One could not speak of corruption in this context - that was "hypocritical and hypocritical". At a later point in time, Kaczyński apologized on television for the behavior of his head of the clerkship: "We meant well because we wanted a majority for the government". He admitted that the boundaries of social norms had been exceeded.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eastern Europe , Volume 56, Issue 11–12, German Society for Eastern European Studies (Ed.), Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , 2006, p. 163
  2. ↑ Police suspect suicide: Farmer leader Lepper found dead in party headquarters on October 5, 2011 at Focus.de (accessed on June 30, 2014)
  3. ↑ a b Thomas Dudek, Polski Big Brother from June 29, 2006 at Heise Online ( Telepolis )
  4. ↑ a b Olaf Sundermeyer, Poland: Filmed purchase of votes - Premier in need of explanation from September 27, 2006 at [Spiegel Online] (accessed on June 30, 2014)
  5. ↑ a b c d Poland's Watergate affair: resignation from the government and new elections in sight? from October 1, 2006 at ORF.at (accessed June 30, 2014)
  6. ↑ Konrad Schuller, Government Crisis in Poland: An ambiguous offer from September 27, 2006 at FAZ.net (accessed on June 30, 2014)
  7. ↑ The bribery scandal in Poland, the hidden camera was on the Hamburger Abendblatt Online on September 27, 2009 (accessed on June 30, 2014)
  8. ↑ Dziennik daily newspaper from September 28, 2006
  9. ^ Konrad Schuller, Government Crisis in Poland: First Feind, Then Friend, October 1, 2006 at FAZ.net (accessed June 30, 2014)