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A final report from the parliamentary commission of Poland over the alleged corruption of the country’s visa system has been adopted.
In this report, a total of 11 senior officials have been accused of irregularities in the visa system, and measures are to be taken, Schengen.News reports.
As Notes from Poland explains, notices of suspected offences will be filed against all these individuals, part of which is also the former Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki and former Minister Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau.
While the findings stress that the situation is very serious, PiS, under whose rule of the government the biggest visa scandal in Poland took place, argued that the report does not show that a single visa was issued illegally.
Despite such a statement, all those involved in the scandal now risk facing legal action over corruption in the country’s Schengen visa system and for issuing the document in an irregular manner for those who do not fulfil the criteria.
Previous to this final report, the Supreme Audit Office of Poland also shared information on the matter after it carried out an inspection. In August of this year, the Audit Office said that the former Foreign Ministry had issued Schengen vias without proper supervision. The report further noted that the findings are very serious but did not share any additional information.
Diplomats Said They Were Pressure to Grant Polish Schengen Visas to Certain Applicants
The visa scandal in Poland surfaced in the summer of last year. Back then, it was found that many people who did not provide the needed documentation and who made false statements were granted visas that permitted them to enter the territory of Poland and other member states.
The country’s authorities took measures against those involved immediately, and some other details started to come to light once Polish diplomats shared more information about the irregularities.
Amid the investigation, which was still ongoing at the beginning of this year, two Polish diplomats stated that the Consulate of Poland in Mumbai was pressured by the Foreign Ministry to issue visas to certain Indian nationals despite them not meeting the needed conditions to obtain the document.
The two diplomats said for the parliamentary commission that a large number of Indians were issued visas. The same stressed that the applicants claimed to be travelling to Poland for work-related purposes, but they did not have any experience in the industry.
In an effort to erase the visa scandal, the Polish authorities decided earlier this year to cut the number of work visas issued for foreign nationals.
The country has also tightened the visa rules for international students who want to pursue their studies in the country, as irregularities were also recorded.
Source: https://schengen.news/polands-visa-scandal-former-pm-10-others-to-face-legal-action-for-irregularities/
