Lawyers for Austrian businessman Gerald Birgfellner accused Poland's ruling party chief Jarosław Kaczyński of fraud related to an office tower project in downtown Warsaw, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported on Tuesday.
Recordings obtained by the paper dating from July 2018 appeared to feature audio of Kaczyński commenting on and cancelling the project. The paper cited unidentified sources.
"If we don't win the elections, we won't be able to build this tower in Warsaw," he says in the recordings, according to Wyborcza.
Beata Mazurek, a spokeswoman for Kaczyński's PiS party, said on Twitter on Monday: "'Pseudo revelations' that are being discussed today on (Twitter) is just another story from (Gazeta Wyborcza) about the company Srebrna. The same gossip and speculation, that we've been hearing for years."
Kaczyński oversaw the investment process for the building of the office project, which was meant to include apartments, a hotel and the base of the Lech Kaczyński foundation, named after Jaroslaw's twin brother and former president of Poland, Gazeta Wyborcza said.
State-run bank Pekao was meant to help finance the investment preparations for up to 15.5 million euros and offer credit for around 300 million euros, the newspaper said.
Kaczyński is accused of fraud worth a few million zlotys. Birgfellner's lawyers have notified the Warsaw prosecutor's office of a potential crime on Kaczyński's part, Wyborcza said.
Reactions to the publication
"This attempted attack by "GW" on Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński is just another battle in a war against Law and Justice and its leader, that these circles have been waging for many years. Incidentally, it became clear that they didn't bother to stick to facts. It's Jarosław Kaczyński and the political environment he's been building successfully throughout the years, who are fighting corruption and struggling for honesty in public life," said PiS spokesperson Beata Mazurek.
According to Mazurek, the recordings revealed by "Gazeta Wyborcza" only prove that Jarosław Kaczyński is an absolutely honest man. "Demand of payment without any grounds in documents couldn't have been satisfied," Beata Mazurek added.
Civic Platform's MPs called upon Law and Justice's Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński to reveal all of his assets. They also announced that, based on "GW" publication, they would notify the prosecutor's office regarding influence peddling, appealing to authority and overstepping MP authority for material gains.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Gazeta Wyborcza, Reuters, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24