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Central Europe
May 12, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
“Holding a solid double-digit lead against the CSSD, Ano’s victory in the October general polls remains our base case scenario,” says Andrius Tursa at Teneo Intelligence. “However, a heated political campaign during the remaining five
Polish probe into Warsaw property reprivatisation escalates with more arrests
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Poland’s anti-corruption police unit CBA said on May 11 that it has detained several more people in connection with a long-running case investigat- ing corruption connected to the reprivatisation of property in Warsaw.
The arrests follow similar steps taken in early February. The start of work by a special commis- sion that was set up by the ruling Law and Jus- tice (PiS) appears to have accelerated the probe. Officials from Civic Platform (PO), now the main opposition party, are largely the target.
The investigation offers PiS grist to its wider claims that the former governing party has com- monly mishandled privatisation processes. PO governed Poland from 2007 to 2015, while leading party figure Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz has been mayor of Warsaw since 2010. In April, the CBA raided the Warsaw offices of Ciech and its major- ity owner Kulczyk Holding in an investigation into the previous government’s privatization of the chemicals group.
The mayor maintains the reprivatisation process was in no way problematic. However, the media as
months could still tilt popular support to either side. Considering the ongoing crisis, the pros- pects of continued cooperation between the CSSD and ANO after the October polls are becoming increasingly improbable.”
well as Warsaw NGOs – which first started expos- ing the shenanigans – have long disagreed. The rash of recent arrests appears to support that stance.
In Warsaw, where the communist authorities nationalised real estate to facilitate rebuilding the city after World War II, restitution has become a major controversy. Several dubious cases, resting on forged documents or suspiciously favourable court decisions, have seen daylight in the past 18 months or so.
The CBA on May 11 detained a businessman and his son who were both involved in the reprivatisa- tion business, as well as three lawyers and two property valuation experts. Earlier arrests tar- geted Warsaw city hall officials that worked under Gronkiewicz-Waltz.
As the arrest roster expands, the issue threatens PO’s rule in the capital. Gronkiewicz-Waltz has already been forced to reshuffle her staff, and the mayor is under pressure from the opposition on the city council, which is led by PiS, and local activists alike to step down.