Poland

‘Tape scandal sinks government’

Published on 16 June 2014 at 16:22

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“The government has never been in such a serious crisis”, leads Rzeczpospolita two days after Wprost weekly made public a secretly tapped conversation peppered with vulgarisms between head of the Polish central bank (NBP) Marek Belka and Interior Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz. On the leaked tape recorded in one of Warsaw’s trendy restaurants in July 2013, Sienkiewicz asked Belka if the central bank would be able to help the government support the economy and cut budget debt before next year’s general elections.
In return for his help, Belka demanded resignation of the then Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski (who was replaced a few months later) and an amendment of the NBP bill. The opposition said “the deal” was unconstitutional and called for resignation of Sienkiewicz as well as Belka if not the entire cabinet.

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