Representatives from Poland’s main opposition grouping, the Civic Coalition (KO), have visited the foreign ministry to gather information on visas issued to Muslim migrants after a deputy foreign minister was fired following an investigation by an anti-corruption agency, according to Gazeta Wyborcza.
Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs might have let hundreds of thousands of migrants come to Europe. The daily wrote that Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk had been responsible for consular matters and visas at the ministry. It underlined that it was also Wawrzyk who had submitted a draft regulation concerning visa facilitation for temporary workers from about 20 countries, including Islamic countries. According to this draft, “up to 400,000 workers have job opportunities in Poland”.
It underlined that “according to unofficial information, a picture of a corruption scandal was emerging, one that enabled the influx of tens of thousands of immigrants to Europe through international recruitment companies.” It may have been the recruiters who “were behind the draft regulation of Minister Wawrzyk.” The newspaper added that in 2022, about 200,000 migrants came to Poland of whom 130,000 were from Muslim countries. The newspaper wrote:
“This may concern a huge corruption scandal as a result of which hundreds of thousands of immigrants poured into Europe”.
On Sunday Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, giving comments on Wawrzyk’s dismissal said that the reason was “lack of satisfactory cooperation”. He claimed he was aware of an inquiry by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) and said it was also a reason for the firing.
Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński claimed that “the matter is being investigated by the proper institutions”.
On Wednesday, KO MPs Marcin Kierwiński and Jan Grabiec arrived at the foreign ministry to carry out a parliamentary inspection. Jan Grabiec said:
“We know that almost 135,000 work permits were issued just in 2022, we wanted to obtain data on how many of these permits were actually used, but then we were not given this data… It turns out that corruption may be lurking in the background, hence the dismissal of Deputy Minister Wawrzyk.”
Jan Grabiec also added:
“The CBA is supposedly examining the incident. However, we know that the main purpose of this bureau, as it has been for the last eight years, is to hide evidence, not to clear up scandals and crimes. We are concerned that data concerning the true influx of immigrants to Poland will be kept secret by the CBA”.
The charges may become a huge blow to PiS just weeks before the October 15 general election as the party has made its anti-migration stance one of its key election campaign themes. To support this, PiS has also pushed through its idea to hold a referendum on migration together with the parliamentary ballot.
