Rywin affair
Encyclopedia
The Rywin affair was a corruption
scandal in Poland
, which began in late 2002 while the post communist government of the SLD
(Democratic Left Alliance) was in power. It is named after the prominent Polish film producer Lew Rywin, who was a key figure.
, editor of Poland's largest daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza
. In exchange for a bribe of 17.5 million USD, Rywin offered to arrange for a change in a draft law aimed at limiting the print media's influence on radio and television, which would have been in Michnik's favour - as the original draft would have prevented the paper's publishing house, Agora S.A.
from taking over the private TV station Polsat
or the second channel of Poland's public TV broadcaster TVP
. Rywin said he was acting on behalf of what he called a "group in power" which wanted to remain anonymous but possibly included then prime minister Leszek Miller
of the post-communist SLD.
Michnik secretly recorded the conversation and started investigations to establish the identity of the "group in power". He also arranged a meeting between Miller, Rywin, and himself in Miller's office. When Miller denied any involvement in the deal Rywin had put forward, according to the other persons present, Rywin lost his composure and even spoke of committing suicide. Rywin himself later claimed to have been under the influence of alcohol.
Only after the Gazeta Wyborcza
's alleged investigations had remained inconclusive, on 27 December 2002 - half a year after the incident, which cast some doubts on the real role of the newspaper in the affair - the paper printed the partial record of Michnik's conversation with Rywin, thus starting the actual scandal. However other papers had reported parts of the story earlier (e.g. weekly magazine Wprost )
In January 2003, the Polish parliament (Sejm
) created a special committee to conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the affair.
A separate penal prosecution resulted in Rywin being sentenced to two years in prison and a 100,000 PLN fine for 26 April 2004 fraud, as the court concluded that the "group in power" did not exist and Rywin had been acting on his own initiative. On 10 December 2004, the Warsaw court of appeals repealed this sentence, sentencing Rywin to a reduced term of two years for "paid protection" on behalf of a still anonymous group.
and Samoobrona deputies to the committee, it adopted without prior discussion a final report which came to the same conclusion as the penal court - according to which Rywin had been acting completely on his own.
However, the dissenting minority, including committee chairman Tomasz Nałęcz
, refused to back the report and began to compile minority reports. The Sejm then had to decide whether to accept the committee's official final report or one of the various minority reports as the outcome of the investigation. On September 24, 2004, the Sejm unexpectedly voted to accept the minority report that most radically departed from the majority report and named the following persons as the masterminds behind Rywin's mission:
's reputation has been damaged as he was suspected to be more deeply entangled in the scandal, although in what way remains unclear. His friendly relations with members of the former communist political establishment were exposed. More and more Poles are convinced that politicians and opinion-leaders are involved with the large-scale shadow economy.
While some were certainly satisfied when high-ranking politicians were supposedly revealed as masterminds, this has also disenchanted even more people away from politics: On the one hand, the supposed delinquents deny all accusations and cannot be held accountable; on the other hand, it was quite obvious that the Sejm's acceptance of the minority report, which claimed the involvement of high-ranking politicians, had itself been due to some clever tactics of the interested opposition factions and a certain inattentiveness of the SLD
. This created the impression that the opposition was not really interested in neutrally establishing the truth, either, but rather playing a power game of its own.
The one person who seems to have benefited the most from the affair was Jan Rokita
, the representative of the largest opposition party Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska)
at the time and a member of the investigative committee, the hearings of which were broadcast live on TV. With his aggressive style of interrogation he made a name for himself as a tough investigator, thus establishing himself as the opposition's most important figure within a few months and at the time came to be considered as the most likely aspirant to the post of prime minister after a probable SLD election defeat in 2005.
Apart from that, the right-wing party Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość)
, whose defining themes are the fight against crime and corruption, had benefited from the affair, which contributed to raising its public profile. It was the party's deputy Zbigniew Ziobro
who had authored the radical minority report the Sejm had passed.
By late 2004, however, the Rywin affair had already being overshadowed by another scandal, which could have even more far-reaching effects: The so-called Orlen affair (afera Orlenu, Orlengate) surrounding the privatization of the largely state-owned oil giant PKN Orlen
.
Against the background of these affairs, right-wing politicians, in particular from the Law and Justice
party, began calling for an end to the post-1989 Third Republic
, which they consider inherently weak, morally corrupt and controlled by cliques. In what Law and Justice's
presidential candidate Lech Kaczyński
and eventual winner of the presidential election called a "moral revolution", it should be completely replaced with a Fourth Republic, a "strong and moral state" http://www.e-warsaw.pl/new/index.php?dzial=aktualnosci&ak_id=438&kat=1.
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
scandal in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, which began in late 2002 while the post communist government of the SLD
Democratic Left Alliance
Democratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
(Democratic Left Alliance) was in power. It is named after the prominent Polish film producer Lew Rywin, who was a key figure.
Train of events
On 22 July 2002, Lew Rywin called in at the office of Adam MichnikAdam Michnik
Adam Michnik is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, where he sometimes writes under the pen-names of Andrzej Zagozda or Andrzej Jagodziński. In 1966–1989 he was one of the leading organizers of the illegal, democratic opposition in Poland...
, editor of Poland's largest daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
. In exchange for a bribe of 17.5 million USD, Rywin offered to arrange for a change in a draft law aimed at limiting the print media's influence on radio and television, which would have been in Michnik's favour - as the original draft would have prevented the paper's publishing house, Agora S.A.
Agora SA
Agora Spółka Akcyjna or Agora SA is a Polish media company.It is owner or co-owner of:* a national daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza,* a daily called Metro in several large Polish cities,* 3 regional weeklies,...
from taking over the private TV station Polsat
Polsat
Polsat is Poland's second biggest television channel, founded on December 5, 1992 and owned by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak.Polsat belongs to the Polsat Group , which also owns other channels:*Polsat HD*Polsat 2 International*Polsat News*TV Biznes...
or the second channel of Poland's public TV broadcaster TVP
Telewizja Polska
Telewizja Polska Spółka Akcyjna is Poland's public broadcasting corporation...
. Rywin said he was acting on behalf of what he called a "group in power" which wanted to remain anonymous but possibly included then prime minister Leszek Miller
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller is a Polish central-left-wing politician, leader of the Democratic Left Alliance , Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.-Childhood and youth:...
of the post-communist SLD.
Michnik secretly recorded the conversation and started investigations to establish the identity of the "group in power". He also arranged a meeting between Miller, Rywin, and himself in Miller's office. When Miller denied any involvement in the deal Rywin had put forward, according to the other persons present, Rywin lost his composure and even spoke of committing suicide. Rywin himself later claimed to have been under the influence of alcohol.
Only after the Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
's alleged investigations had remained inconclusive, on 27 December 2002 - half a year after the incident, which cast some doubts on the real role of the newspaper in the affair - the paper printed the partial record of Michnik's conversation with Rywin, thus starting the actual scandal. However other papers had reported parts of the story earlier (e.g. weekly magazine Wprost )
In January 2003, the Polish parliament (Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
) created a special committee to conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the affair.
A separate penal prosecution resulted in Rywin being sentenced to two years in prison and a 100,000 PLN fine for 26 April 2004 fraud, as the court concluded that the "group in power" did not exist and Rywin had been acting on his own initiative. On 10 December 2004, the Warsaw court of appeals repealed this sentence, sentencing Rywin to a reduced term of two years for "paid protection" on behalf of a still anonymous group.
Contradictory conclusions
In the meantime, the protracted hearings of the Sejm's special committee continued. On April 5, 2004 the Sejm committee officially finished proceedings. With a majority vote supported by the SLDDemocratic Left Alliance
Democratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
and Samoobrona deputies to the committee, it adopted without prior discussion a final report which came to the same conclusion as the penal court - according to which Rywin had been acting completely on his own.
However, the dissenting minority, including committee chairman Tomasz Nałęcz
Tomasz Nalecz
Tomasz Nałęcz is a Polish historian, leftist politician, former vice-Speaker of the Sejm and a former member of the Socjaldemokracja Polska party ....
, refused to back the report and began to compile minority reports. The Sejm then had to decide whether to accept the committee's official final report or one of the various minority reports as the outcome of the investigation. On September 24, 2004, the Sejm unexpectedly voted to accept the minority report that most radically departed from the majority report and named the following persons as the masterminds behind Rywin's mission:
- prime minister Leszek MillerLeszek MillerLeszek Cezary Miller is a Polish central-left-wing politician, leader of the Democratic Left Alliance , Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.-Childhood and youth:...
(stepped down in May 2004) - Aleksandra Jakubowska, deputy minister of culture in Miller's government, who was also in charge of the amendment of the law that would possibly have benefited Agora S.A.Agora SAAgora Spółka Akcyjna or Agora SA is a Polish media company.It is owner or co-owner of:* a national daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza,* a daily called Metro in several large Polish cities,* 3 regional weeklies,...
- Włodzimierz Czarzasty, another high-ranking SLDDemocratic Left AllianceDemocratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
media policy-maker - Robert Kwiatkowski, head of the Polish national public TV broadcaster TVPTelewizja PolskaTelewizja Polska Spółka Akcyjna is Poland's public broadcasting corporation...
, the second channel of which was discussed to be privatized and a possible target for an Agora S.A.Agora SAAgora Spółka Akcyjna or Agora SA is a Polish media company.It is owner or co-owner of:* a national daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza,* a daily called Metro in several large Polish cities,* 3 regional weeklies,...
takeover - Lech Nikolski, Miller's Chief of Cabinet, later in charge of the Polish EU membership referendum as minister without portfolio.
Long-term impact on political culture
The long-term impact of the affair on Poland's political culture has yet to be fully assessed. Certainly, it has once more reinforced the Polish population's already deeply rooted traditional suspicion of the state and politicians. Well-known former dissident Adam MichnikAdam Michnik
Adam Michnik is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, where he sometimes writes under the pen-names of Andrzej Zagozda or Andrzej Jagodziński. In 1966–1989 he was one of the leading organizers of the illegal, democratic opposition in Poland...
's reputation has been damaged as he was suspected to be more deeply entangled in the scandal, although in what way remains unclear. His friendly relations with members of the former communist political establishment were exposed. More and more Poles are convinced that politicians and opinion-leaders are involved with the large-scale shadow economy.
While some were certainly satisfied when high-ranking politicians were supposedly revealed as masterminds, this has also disenchanted even more people away from politics: On the one hand, the supposed delinquents deny all accusations and cannot be held accountable; on the other hand, it was quite obvious that the Sejm's acceptance of the minority report, which claimed the involvement of high-ranking politicians, had itself been due to some clever tactics of the interested opposition factions and a certain inattentiveness of the SLD
Democratic Left Alliance
Democratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
. This created the impression that the opposition was not really interested in neutrally establishing the truth, either, but rather playing a power game of its own.
The one person who seems to have benefited the most from the affair was Jan Rokita
Jan Rokita
Jan Rokita is a Polish conservative politician, a member of the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. He was chairman of the parliamentary club of Platforma Obywatelska from 2003 to 2005....
, the representative of the largest opposition party Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska)
Civic Platform
Civic Platform , abbreviated to PO, is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the 2007 general election, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President...
at the time and a member of the investigative committee, the hearings of which were broadcast live on TV. With his aggressive style of interrogation he made a name for himself as a tough investigator, thus establishing himself as the opposition's most important figure within a few months and at the time came to be considered as the most likely aspirant to the post of prime minister after a probable SLD election defeat in 2005.
Apart from that, the right-wing party Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość)
Law and Justice
Law and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
, whose defining themes are the fight against crime and corruption, had benefited from the affair, which contributed to raising its public profile. It was the party's deputy Zbigniew Ziobro
Zbigniew Ziobro
Zbigniew Tadeusz Ziobro is a Polish politician, since October 2005 until November 2007 Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General. He was elected to the Sejm on September 25, 2005 in the 13th Kraków district, running on the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość list...
who had authored the radical minority report the Sejm had passed.
By late 2004, however, the Rywin affair had already being overshadowed by another scandal, which could have even more far-reaching effects: The so-called Orlen affair (afera Orlenu, Orlengate) surrounding the privatization of the largely state-owned oil giant PKN Orlen
PKN Orlen
PKN Orlen is a major European oil refiner, and petrol retailer. The company is Poland's and Central Europe's largest publicly traded firm with major operations in Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, and the Baltic States...
.
Against the background of these affairs, right-wing politicians, in particular from the Law and Justice
Law and Justice
Law and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
party, began calling for an end to the post-1989 Third Republic
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, which they consider inherently weak, morally corrupt and controlled by cliques. In what Law and Justice's
Law and Justice
Law and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
presidential candidate Lech Kaczyński
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
and eventual winner of the presidential election called a "moral revolution", it should be completely replaced with a Fourth Republic, a "strong and moral state" http://www.e-warsaw.pl/new/index.php?dzial=aktualnosci&ak_id=438&kat=1.