Posted on Monday, 5th October 2009 by admin
The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, cleaned up his Cabinet this week in an attempt to overcome a political scandal over gambling legislation. Tusk has accepted the resignation of three high ranking government officials while he takes steps to terminate the head of the anti-corruption agency.
The anti-corruption investigation code-named Operation Blackjack, has made the headlines in Poland. Allegations of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CAB) has affected the reputation of Tusks Civic Platform party. The CAB accused officials of using their influence to lighten the burden of the new gambling tax on the casino gambling industry in Poland. The scandal is a blow to Tusks efforts to continue to run for president in the elections next year against Lech Kaczynski. Andrzej Czuma, the Minister of Justice, and Grzegorz Schetyna, both Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, and a third officer, Adam Szejnfeld, a deputy of the Ministry of Economics, have offered their resignation, Prime Minister Tusk has accepted their resignation, he said at a press conference on Wednesday. The announcement comes two days after the Sports Minister, Miroslaw Drzewiecki, had resigned as part of the same betting scandal. Premier Tusk said: “Recent events related to the gambling act raise justified doubts among Poles. For the government to work in an atmosphere of trust and impartiality, my colleagues and I want to do everything to convince Poles, but also our opponents, about our impartiality.” Tusk added he has taken steps to remove Mariusz Kaminski, who run the anti-corruption agency and was nominated by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Tusks predecessor and twin brother of the president. Tusk claims that Kaminski abused his power to help the governments political rivals. Szenjfel was involved in drafting the legislation, in which he allegedly had phone conversations with a gambling business, the company and the lawmaker talked about stopping the plans of casino gambling tax. Szenjfel himself says he is innocent. Tusk said the names of the new ministers will be published next week.
Tags: gambling
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