It seems that there are people who were ready to simply sell Polish security for money – Adam Szłapka, chairman of Nowoczesna and a representative of the Civic Coalition club, said about the visa scandal in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24. Paweł Zalewski from Poland 2050 said that we are dealing with “absolute paralysis” in the context of the need of Polish business for foreign workers in connection with Friday’s decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his opinion, this is a reason to dismiss Minister Zbigniew Rau as soon as possible.
The guests of “Fakty po Faktach” – Paweł Zalewski from Poland 2050 and Adam Szłapka, chairman of Nowoczesna, from the Civic Coalition club, referred to the visa scandal and subsequent information in connection with irregularities in submitting visa applications.
Paweł Zalewski said that “this is a serious matter because it affects the security of the state, which – on the other hand – has been made the main topic of the campaign by PiS.”
He stated that “the state has lost control over one of its most important prorogatives, which is access to its borders.” – Not only access to our own borders, but also to the entire Schengen group, which is also related to a number of problems that we may have in the European Union – he added.
– The problem is the mechanism of granting visas, which consists in the fact that there is an intermediary company that checks the correctness of completing the visa application, but is in no way able to verify whether these people have any problems with the law or whether they may be involved in any way into terrorist activities – said the representative of Poland 2050.
Szłapka: it seems that there are people who were ready to simply sell Polish security for money
Adam Szłapka said that we were dealing with a “giant scandal”. He also mentioned taking responsibility in connection with this case.
– Minister (Piotr) Wawrzyk has already incurred political responsibility because he was thrown out of the government. The question now is about criminal liability. (…) In the future – I hope – Minister Rau, who, after all, is the person supervising this whole case, will also be brought to court. But a very large part of the responsibility for this falls on the minister (Mariusz) Kamiński and the minister (Maciej) Wąsikwho are the minister and deputy minister of interior affairs and administration, and people who coordinate the secret services – he continued.
– The fact that there has been information about irregularities in this case for a long time, for a year, and it seems that they tried to hide everything so that the scandal would not see the light of day, rather than solve the case, means that everything points to this. that many people were involved in this practice – continued Adam Szłapka.
– It seems that there are people who were ready to simply sell Polish security for money – said the leader of Nowoczesna. – We have to find these people, because they may be officials somewhere in individual ministries, but they may be the most important people in PiS. Reaction Jarosław Kaczyński shows that he is really aware that his closest collaborators participated in the scandal of building a transport channel to Europe, which was used to make money. This is simply shameful, he said.
Szłapka: it seems that there are people who were ready to simply sell Polish security for moneyTVN24
Zalewski: there is absolute paralysis, this is a reason for the resignation of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Zalewski talked about the boss’s responsibility for this matter Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. – Minister Rau is also responsible for this, because he affirmed this system by opening the visa center in Łódź. By the way, it was supposed to be an election sausage, because he is a candidate from Łódź, it was known that he would be PiS’s first candidate from Łódź. This is absolutely incredible. Minister Rau now wants to escape from responsibility. This is impossible, Minister, said the representative of Poland 2050.
– First, you behave like a driver who goes from gang to gang. First, you expand this system to who knows what limits, creating two visa centers in your home and in the electoral district of your colleague Wawrzyk. And today, the minister is blocking the possibility of issuing visas by terminating contracts with all companies with which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cooperated – said the TVN24 guest. He referred in this way to the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding termination of the contract with all outsourcing companieswho have been entrusted with tasks related to accepting visa applications since 2011.
As Zalewski continued, “there is absolute paralysis” and the minister does not inform us how this paralysis will be overcome and how Polish business will acquire the employees who are needed in the country. According to the representative of Poland 2050, “this is a reason for Minister Rau’s resignation as soon as possible.”
Find out more: Visa scandal. What do we know so far?
Visa scandal
Investigations into irregularities in submitting visa applications are conducted by the National Prosecutor’s Office Central Anticorruption Bureau.
The deputy director of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office, Daniel Lerman, reported at the Thursday conference that “the investigation was initiated on March 7, 2023 based on materials provided by the Central Anticorruption Bureau.”
– It concerns paid protection in the acceleration of visa procedures in relation to several hundred visas and visa applications submitted over a year and a half. Of these several hundred visas, most of them were granted through refusal decisions, explained prosecutor Lerman. He added that the procedure concerned applications for visas for foreigners to work in Poland.
>> Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding irregularities in the visa issuance process
Main photo source: TVN24