Visa scandal shakes Poland: Incredible allegations against politicians

Watson Visa scandal shakes Poland: Incredible allegations against politicians Article by Anna Von Stefanelli • 40 mins Poland is pursuing a controversial migration course. The pushbacks at the border with Belarus also violated EU law. The Polish Foreign Ministry is now confronted with serious allegations. It is said to have sold work visas to migrants. Illegal. In the past three years up to 350,000 in number. This not only affects the country itself. Poland has thus brought migrant workers into the EU and the Schengen area. Smugglers - as well as government officials - are said to have pocketed up to $40,000 per visa for this. The national-conservative government in Warsaw is stirring up sentiment against migrants. The fact that the Foreign Ministry is now being investigated in the middle of the election campaign is putting the ruling PiS under pressure. Now there could be more serious consequences for the entire country. And a politician is said to have suffered a nervous breakdown. Riot in Poland: Evidence of lousy business with work visas There is currently chaos in Poland due to the visa scandal. At the center of the investigation are Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau and his deputy Piotr Wawrzyk. The allegations against Wawrzyk are serious. He is said to have been the one who pushed the government of PiS Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, among others, to bring at least 400,000 foreign workers into the country every year. Piotr Wawrzyk is said to play a key role in the corruption scandal. In the coming years, two million people - mostly from Africa and Asia - would be trafficked as temporary workers into the country and ultimately into the EU and the Schengen area, without being checked. Wawrzyk is said to be suffering from the investigation Deputy Foreign Minister Wawrzyk has now been fired. He even tried to take his own life, according to Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. His condition was temporarily life-threatening. According to Polish media reports, there are several indications of a suicide attempt. According to unofficial information from an "rmf" journalist, Wawrzyk wrote in a letter that he had done nothing wrong. He wanted to help people regardless of their political affiliation. Meanwhile, more and more allegations against the deputy minister are coming to light. According to a report by the online portal "onet.pl", in November 2022 he ordered the Polish representations in New Delhi and Mumbai to speed up the processing of several dozen visas. He justified this by saying that the visa was for a film crew for a supposed Bollywood film called "Asati". The problem: According to "onet.pl", the supposed filmmakers are actually a "vegetable delivery person and the make-up artist ran a nail salon at a gas station," the report says. It is completely unclear who exactly earns how much from corruption in connection with the issuance of visas. However, not only the authorities in Poland should be involved. According to the report, traces also lead to the Polish embassies and consulates in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Philippines and Qatar. So it's a visa scandal of enormous proportions: the investigators are targeting no fewer than 250,000 visas that brought migrants into the EU and Schengen area. Unchecked issuance of visas poses a risk of terrorism According to local media in Poland, as early as 2022 there were indications that some immigrants were able to enter Europe without any security clearance. At least if they paid a small amount of money for it. This also increases the threat of terrorism in the EU and the Schengen area. The Polish newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" reported on the reason for the current investigation by the CBA: "At the level of the Polish consular services, there are irregularities that lead to the mass issuance of visas allowing foreigners from countries where there is a terrorist threat to enter the Schengen area." An Indian agency called VFS is also said to be involved in the smuggling schemes. This company's website states that it is responsible for "visa outsourcing and technology services" in 70 countries worldwide. People who want a visa can book appointments for the applications on this website. As investigations have now shown, these appointments are said to have been specifically blocked on the website by hackers in order to then sell them for 500 to 800 euros. If applicants wanted a quick procedure, they had to dig deeper into their pockets. Several thousand euros. “Bild” writes about bribe payments of up to 40,000 euros.