A survey taken after a corruption scandal suggests that Poles have little trust in the state - a warning sign for the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which won power in 2015 partly on pledges to fight graft and has extended state control over media and judiciary.
Last month, the Gazeta Wyborcza and Financial Times papers said the owner of the loss-making Getin Noble Bank (GNB) had formally accused the ex-head of the KNF banking regulator of asking him for a multi-million zloty bribe in exchange for "support".
The survey, published on Friday by the state-controlled pollster CBOS, found that 77 percent of Poles had heard about the scandal, and 56 percent of these thought a group of politicians or senior officials were involved.
Half of those who knew about the scandal thought the state had been too slow to act and a similar proportion said they did not trust the prosecutor's office to investigate. Only 36 trusted the public television channel's coverage of the affair.
"The actions of state organs in this matter are perceived as insufficient, and the intentions attributed to them point to (voters') concerns about the possibility of a thorough explanation of the matter," CBOS said.
Poland is due to hold an election by next November.
While one opinion poll taken three weeks ago, after the scandal broke, had PiS support down 5 percentage points, a Kantar Millward Brown survey published on Thursday had it unchanged on the month at 34 percent. But that survey also put the main opposition party, Civic Platform, up three points at 27 percent.
The nationalist, eurosceptic PiS is likely to be judged in the next election on whether it has fulfilled promises to make the state more transparent and accountable.
Over the past three years it has greatly extended government control over prosecutors and judges and over state-owned media such as the national broadcaster.
Reuters has seen a copy of Getin Noble owner Leszek Czarnecki's deposition to Polish prosecutors. The former head of KNF, Marek Chrzanowski, was arrested and denies any wrongdoing.
Getin Noble said on Thursday it was considering finding a new investor to recapitalise it.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters