Russia linked to 2014 wiretapping scandal in Poland

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Russia linked to 2014 wiretapping scandal in Poland

Reports say man convicted of organising recordings owed millions to Russian coal firm

Christian Davies in Warsaw
Wed 12 Sep 2018 08.06 BST

Concerns are growing in Poland about potential Russian involvement in a dramatic wiretapping scandal that rocked Polish politics in 2014, after reports emerged that the businessman convicted of organising the operation owed tens of millions of dollars to a Russian coal business.

Marek Falenta, a Polish businessman with interests in the coal industry, was convicted in 2016 of organising the operation, which involved recording 700 hours of conversations over the course of more than 80 meetings between senior politicians and officials at two Warsaw restaurants.

The people recorded included the interior minister, the finance minister, the foreign minister and the transport minister, all from Poland’s pro-European Civic Platform party, and the heads of the national bank, the supreme audit office, the government protection bureau and the central anti-corruption bureau. Two waiters were also convicted for their part in the affair.

The publication of the edited transcripts by Wprost, a Polish weekly, in June 2014 caused a sensation after it emerged that Radosław Sikorski, the then foreign minister, had described Polish defence ties with the US as “worthless”, and the head of the national bank had appeared to suggest to the interior minister that Jan-Vincent Rostowski, the then finance minister, be removed in exchange for the bank’s support for government policy.

The revelation of Falenta’s debts raises the prospect of Russian involvement in a scandal that observers say was a major factor in the collapse of public support for Civic Platform, ahead of elections in 2015 and the subsequent coming to power of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS).

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/12/russia-linked-2014-wiretapping-scandal-poland

[duforsure]

1. Makes me wonder

Did putin do that here for trump too? Maybe why he accused President Obama for wiretapping him? He accuses others of what he's doing and involved in often? Would not surprise me if he was part of doing this here to his opponents and others.