The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radek Sikorski, who made headlines last week after embarrassing recordings of him leaked to the press, said he has fallen victim to an “organized crime group.”
“In relation to the illegal recordings I have notified the prosecution of the activities of an organized crime group,” Sikorski published on his Twitter on Saturday, adding that he has referred to the 258th article of the Polish code of law, paragraph one. That law says: “Whoever participates in a group or an association intending to commit a crime or fraud is liable to incarceration of between 3 months and 5 years.” The language of the law suggests it pertains mostly to terrorist organizations.
Sikorski was quoted earlier by the Polish press claiming that the government “was attacked by an organized crime group,” and that he hoped the members of that group would be identified and punished appropriately.
On June 22, a Polish news magazine, Wprost, started publishing compromising recordings illegally obtained and leaked to the press, apparently by employees working at several prestigious Warsaw restaurants, where Poland’s politicians would meet for unofficial, off-the-record get-togethers.
In the recordings, a person identified by the magazine as Sikorski uses vulgar language to blast the Poland-U.S. defense alliance, referring to it as “worthless” and “bulls*t.” He uses a racial slur to describe the Polish mentality.
The conversation is said to have occurred in the spring of 2014, and it is not yet known exactly who leaked the recordings.
In another recording, Sikorski allegedly criticizes British prime minister, David Cameron over his opposition to the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commissioner.
“It’s either a very badly thought-through move, or, not for the first time, a kind of incompetence in European affairs,” the person identified as Sikorski states in the recording, adding: “Remember? He f**ked up the fiscal pact,” referring to a 2011 agreement between E.U. leaders, which made the United Kingdom look alienated.
Only this Wednesday the Polish lower house, or Sejm, granted the government of Donald Tusk, the current Prime Minister, the “vote of confidence,” which means that the government will remain in power, despite the humiliation that the leaks revealed about several of its members.
Right after the vote was cast, Tusk apologized “the public opinion” for “scandalous behavior,” and especially “the improper language” captured “during illegal recording of conversations of public servants, including ministers.”
“Since these illegal recordings were published, those who - I hope - are embarrassed about their behavior, have the personal, individual, but also political duty to explain themselves,” tusk said in Sejm. Another one from several leaked recordings compromised the head of the Polish central bank, Marek Belka, and Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, as they were apparently caught discussing how the bank could help the governing party win a 2015 re-election. The central bank is by law an independent institution.
