Polish government under pressure over visa scandal: Migrants paid for visas

(Patria) The President of the Upper House of the Polish Parliament, Tomasz Grodzki, has called on the government to reveal what it knows about the escalating visa scandal, the BBC reported. He said the issue is destroying the country's international reputation as a responsible democracy.

The government has released few details, but media reports say migrants paid up to $5,000 to speed up work visa applications.

Seven people have been charged so far, but none are public officials. The country's Deputy Foreign Minister, Piotr Wawrzyk, was dismissed last week following these accusations. The dismissal came the same day the Polish Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) searched the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The director of the legal service was also dismissed.

The ministry, facing an audit regarding the scandal, announced it would terminate all contracts with external companies that handled visa applications since 2011. Opposition MPs said up to 250,000 visas for people from Asia and Africa were irregularly issued by such companies. The government denies the allegations, saying only a few hundred were issued.

"Anyone who wants to get from Africa to Poland goes to our embassy, buys a stamped visa at a special stand, fills in their details and goes! This is the migration policy of PiS (the ruling party)," Donald Tusk, leader of the opposition Civic Platform party, wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Tusk of trying to cause problems for his ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and denied that this was a widespread case.

"This case is destroying our country's reputation as a responsible member of the democratic community of the free world and jeopardizes our security, therefore it must be explained in detail," Grodzki said.

"This is the biggest scandal we have faced in the 21st century. Corruption at the highest levels of power, which poses a direct threat to all of us," he added.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said Grodzki was exaggerating the scale of the problem. The CBA stated that it first learned of this in July 2022 and has been working to verify it since then.

The scandal threatens to tarnish PiS's anti-immigration stance ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for a month from now. PiS is seeking a third term and is currently leading in the polls, but it is unclear if they can win the absolute majority needed to form a government.