Opposition grouping, has called for an inquiry into whether Russia had a hand in a secret recording scandal that many believe helped bring down his Civic Platform (PO) party’s government in 2015. A government spokesman responded by calling Tusk’s demands “absurd”. The issue has returned to the headlines this week following claims by Newsweek that an associate of Marek – a businessman jailed for his role in the secret recordings – had testified that the tapes fell into Russian hands before coming to light publicly. The recordings, made at Warsaw restaurants, featured conversations between prominent public figures, including government officials and business leaders. The publication of their contents, which began in 2014, prompted the resignation in 2015 of three government ministers and the speaker of parliament.
Later that year the PO-led government was
Ousted after two terms in office and replace by a new administration led by the Law and Justice party. Which currently remains in power. was to years imprisonment in though went on the run and evaded jail until 2019. In the new Newsweek article, journalist – who has also previously published investigations claiming Russian links to the scandal – wrote that Polish prosecutors have been “avoiding the espionage angle” instead of probing whether sold the recordings to Russian security services. At a press conference on Tuesday. Tusk – who returned last year as leader of PO – claimed that it had been in Moscow’s interests. For the previous PO government to be replaced because he had proposed setting up an “energy union” – a common gas market for Europe to make the EU independent of Russian supplies.
Tusk noted that after came to power
Poland s coal imports from Russia increased significantly. He then claimed that the energy minister in the-led government of CL Lists that period, Krzysztof, had “close family – his son and brother – trading in coal on a large scale with Russia”. Tusk declared that an independent inquiry was needed “so no one in Poland can speculate” that “was in fact installed [in power] by the Russian services”. The claims were immediately reject by Pies. Which takes a strongly anti-Russian line and has itself accused Tusk and PO of being too friendly towards – and even collaborating with – Russia. The government in 2020 ordered state firms to stop importing Russian coal and this year also banned private businesses from doing so. Government spokesman Piotr Müller said that Tusk’s calls for a probe into the recording scandal were unjustified.
