Poland’s Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski on Wednesday rejected “absurd” claims regarding the extent of the EU member’s visa fraud scandal, after Germany expressed concern over the allegations.
Polish media reports said a system for giving out Schengen visas to people from the Middle East and Africa in exchange for money was put in place through the Polish consulates and some external companies in the countries concerned.
“Unfortunately, the German press latched onto the opposition’s completely absurd narrative regarding the scale of what we were dealing with,” Kaminski told Radio Zet.
“I spoke to the German interior minister yesterday. I explained the actual scale… I reassured her that this was just the opposition’s election campaign and told her not to believe the rubbish,” he added.
He spoke after Berlin revealed that German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had called Kaminski and Warsaw’s envoy to Berlin had been asked to appear at her ministry over the issue.
Polish authorities say the scheme may have involved several hundred Polish work visas, while the opposition says the real number could be around 250,000.
Poland’s secret service said last week that seven people had been detained in the scandal ahead of October 15 elections in which the governing party is running on an anti-immigration platform.
Three of the seven are under arrest, according to the prosecutor’s office, which is leading an inquiry into the alleged racket for fraudulently obtaining visas.
Polish media have reported that the foreign ministry was involved in the scheme, which the opposition Civic Platform party has branded “the biggest scandal in Poland in the 21st century”.
Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk resigned over the scandal last week, though the official reason for his departure was “absence of sufficient cooperation”.
According to Polish media reports, Wawrzyk was hospitalised last week following a suicide attempt.
