Poland lifts veil on corruption

A reality show that is only too real has transformed daytime Polish TV in recent weeks and kept millions glued to their screens.

Starring an Oscar-nominated film producer, the country's prime minister, and one of Poland's most respected anti-Communist dissidents, live coverage of parliamentary hearings into influence peddling is tearing the veil from an allegedly tight-knit group of rich and powerful Poles accused of corruptly controlling the country.

The public hearings could mark a turning point in Poland's transition from communism to free-market democracy, some say.

"In the parliamentary committee, we see the defenders of corruption being pushed back, because they cannot ignore public opinion," says Ludwik Dorn, an opposition member of parliament and prominent anticorruption campaigner. "This is a political and social process."

"Rywingate," as the case is known, hit the front pages two months ago. Gazeta Wyborca, Poland's leading daily newspaper, published a story alleging that Lew Rywin, co-producer of Roman Polanski's film "The Pianist," had asked the paper's editor - former dissident Adam Michnik - for a $17.5 million bribe to ensure that a new media law would be written in a way that would allow Gazeta Wyborca's parent company to buy a national TV network.

Mr. Rywin, the movie producer, claimed to represent Prime Minister Leszek Miller, the article said, quoting from a tape of Rywin's conversation that Mr. Michnik had made secretly in July.

Rywin has refused to testify to the parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Miller has denied having anything to do with the alleged bribe, and Michnik has said that he held off publishing the story for five months while he conducted a journalistic investigation, and so as not to damage Poland's bid to join the European Union.

The case, and the public hearings, have riveted Poland like no other corruption scandal in recent years. "The Rywin case is interesting as a metaphor for all the perceptions Poles have of arrogance amongst the elite," says a Western diplomat. "The average Pole is a little cynical about these guys. He thinks that anything goes."

A recent poll found that 91 percent of Poles believe the threat of corruption in their country is "very high" or "rather high," and that 71 percent think senior government officials reap unwarranted benefits from holding public office.

That attitude stems partly from Poles' experience in their daily lives. They know that they can't get a driver's license without paying someone a bribe, nor can they get decent medical care in a government hospital, and that policemen are notoriously easy to influence with a few zlotys.

Their suspicions that such behavior reaches high into the bureaucracy are also fed by revelations such as one that emerged from a parliamentary debate last month on the introduction of a vehicle road tax. The number of vehicles on Poland's roads increased by 46 percent between 1995 and 2001, the government reported, but gasoline sales fell by three percent, according to tax office figures.

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