Poland’s political leader on unprecedented defensive
WARSAW, Poland — Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland’s most powerful politician who has built his position on a reputation of honesty and anti-communist convictions, suddenly finds himself embroiled in revelations over his involvement in complex business dealings and the presence in his inner circle of people with alleged communist ties.
The stakes are high, given two crucial elections this year — for the European Parliament in May and for the national parliament in the fall.
The scandal broke when Gazeta Wyborcza, a daily newspaper critical of ruling Law and Justice party that Kaczynski leads, published transcripts of secretly recorded business negotiations between Kaczynski and an Austrian developer about plans Kaczynski had to build twin skyscrapers on a plot of land in Warsaw. The plans have been abandoned and the disgruntled developer claims he has not been paid for the work he did.
The plot is owned by a foundation that is linked to the ruling party and Kaczynski sits on its board. The foundation, the Lech Kaczynski Institute, is focused on political debate and is named after Kaczynski’s twin brother, Poland’s president who was killed in a plane crash in 2010.
Reacting to the scandal, Kaczynski said in an interview that the towers were aimed at making profit and financing the foundation, in line with the law. Commentators say they were also to finance Kaczynski’s political circle and the party.
The revelations raise questions because Polish law bans political parties from doing business or drawing profits from it. They also put in doubt the almost ascetic image of integrity Kaczynski has cultivated. The 69-yearold has suddenly been revealed as a shrewd and skilled business negotiator — a far cry from the lifelong bachelor who funds food for stray cats, reportedly had no bank account until a few years ago and is known for saying that “one does not go into politics for money.”
In the latest development, Gazeta Wyborcza on Friday quoted testimony that, it said, the Austrian developer, Gerald Birgfellner, recently gave to prosecutors.
It quoted Birgfellner as saying that Kaczynski had advised him to give 23,000 euros to another member of the foundation’s council to obtain his permission for the launch of the construction. The paper quoted Birgfellner as saying he delivered an envelope with half of the amount to Kaczynski’s o ce and saw him holding it.
A government member, Jacek Sasin, called the publication “fake news” aimed at “hunting down an honest politician that Jaroslaw Kaczynski is.”
Opposition parties, though, are demanding an investigation into the allegations by prosecutors and by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau that was set up in 2006 by a government that Kaczynski led at the time.
The troubles follow separate allegations of corruption of a party appointee, the head of the State Financial Supervision Authority, and of surprisingly high earnings of aides to the head of the state-owned National Bank of Poland.
“The party that was to be the yardstick of ethics in politics is mixing business with politics like none other,” Boguslaw Chrabota, chief editor of the Rzeczpospolita daily, wrote in a recent commentary.
He said that the latest scandal amounts to a “serious crisis of image” because it “hits at the party’s very heart and brain.” He was referring to Kaczynski, who is considered the most powerful person in the country, guiding the government even though formally he is only a lawmaker.
The revelations have exposed Kaczynski as having the decisive voice in the multimillion-euro project to build the skyscrapers, dubbed K-Towers.
They also showed Kaczynski as being reluctant to pay Birgfellner for some 14 months of preparatory work on the project that never materialized.
Birgfellner, who is the son-inlaw of Kaczynski’s first cousin, recorded the talks in Kaczynski’s tightly guarded o ce.
He requested payment of hundreds of thousands of euros, but Kaczynski said Birgfellner needed to provide detailed invoices or seek a court order for the payment.
The developer felt cheated and notified prosecutors, who questioned him this week.
Gazeta Wyborcza published one of Birgfellner’s invoices for almost euro 370,000.
Kaczynski canceled the project last year, telling the Austrian he was fearing it might become a political burden at the time of key elections.
In the recordings, Kaczynski is heard saying he is afraid people might assume that he is the one building the skyscrapers “so I must be a very rich man. We cannot allow that.”
In an interview for the pro-government Sieci weekly, Kaczynski insisted that “there is nothing there” to blame him for. He said that “no regulation has been broken” and that a lawmaker and party leader is allowed to sit on a foundation board and hold business negotiations.
He argued that there are no financial ties whatsoever between the party and the foundation. He is demanding a public apology from Gazeta Wyborcza and threatening a court case.