He Polish executive is under suspicion of human trafficking and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs sprinkles corruption. The epicenter of the scandal that the State Attorney General’s Office is now investigating is in the network of embassies and consulates in Africa and Asia. There they would have been sold, through bribes, until 350,000 work visas to enter Poland and therefore the European Union and the Schengen area. The German Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeserhas already asked Warsaw for explanations within the framework of the UN General Assembly in New York and the Polish ambassador in Berlin has been called for consultations.
“I am very curious about the results of the audit, because taking into account the information provided by the media, it is possible that we are witnessing one of the biggest scandals of Poland’s recent history,” said the president of the Polish National Audit Office, Marian Banas.
Seven people have already been arrested and the first head has rolled. It is that of the vice minister of Foreign Affairs, Piotr Wawrzyk. It is now known that he was dismissed at the end of August, after a command from the Central Anti-Corruption Office (CBA) searched his office and other departments of the Ministry. Wawrzyk, who has also been crossed off the electoral lists for the general elections on October 15, is currently hospitalized due to a suicide attempt, as reported by the Polish Minister of Justice, Zhigniew Ziobro. Wawrzyk allegedly had knowledge of and even participated in the illegal visa sales ring that has now come to light.
According to Polish media investigations, the number of work visas awarded irregularly in recent years in certain Polish embassies could reach 600.000. In the last 30 months alone there would have been 350,000. All were granted in exchange for bribes for the equivalent of between 1,000 and 6,000 euros per visa, so the corruption hole is wide. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaks of around 200, which is why the head of that department, Zbigniew Rau, has declared that he does not feel responsible nor see reasons to resign. “There is no scandal,” he says.
According to the newspaper ‘Rzeczpospolita’, some of the Polish diplomatic representations involved in the plot are those of Nigeria, India, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Egypt, in which, in collusion with local subcontracted companies, priority was given to those who paid the bribe or even those who did not pay a bribe were excluded from the visa application procedure. And there is evidence. In the East African country of Uganda, the Uganda Watchdog portal reported in May cases of people losing several thousand dollars trying to obtain a Polish work visa, while in Kenya numerous websites for obtaining Polish Schengen visas have been detected .