Visa scandal. “Rzeczpospolita”: Piotr Wawrzyk’s colleague Edgar K. was an intermediary in the sale of visas

Thursday A press conference was held at the National Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw deputy director of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office, prosecutor Daniel Lerman, and deputy minister coordinator of special services Stanisław Żaryn. The conference concerned the investigation initiated in March this year into irregularities in issuing visas.

Read more: Visa scandal. What do we know so far?

The prosecutor then said that “thanks to the efficient operation of the services, the prosecutor of the local department of the National Prosecutor’s Office brought charges against seven people in these proceedings.” – Temporary arrest is being imposed on three people – he added.

Wirtualna Polska reported on the same day that 25-year-old Edgar K., an associate of former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Piotr Wawrzyk, who allegedly helped sell Polish visas to citizens Indiawas charged with paid protection in April and was arrested.

Read more: Visa scandal at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. WP: arrest and charges against collaborator Piotr Wawrzyk

According to “Rzeczpospolita”, the first arrests were carried out by… Central Anticorruption Bureau regarding the visa scandal took place in March this year. Saikat B., an Indian businessman living in Warsaw, was then allegedly arrested. “He and a certain Beata W. – according to the charges – allegedly gave bribes to speed up the issuance of visas. On September 8, the CBA detained further suspects in the case – Monika R., Mariusz G. and Krzysztof P.” – writes “Rzeczpospolita”.

The daily received from the Lublin court the content of the charges brought against the detainees. They show, as we read on the website, that “Edgar K. played a key role as an ‘intermediary’ between those who wanted to ‘push’ visas for specific people for money. K. is accused of paid ‘passive’ protection, i.e. intermediary in settling the matter in exchange for a material benefit or a promise thereof. The rest were to be charged with paid “active” protection, so they were said to have given bribes.

As Onet wrote on Thursday, Wawrzyk’s colleague was supposedly appointed by him to deal with the issuance of several dozen Schengen visas for an Indian “Bollywood film crew”.

Read more: Onet about “Wawrzyk’s filmmakers”. They were supposed to pretend to be Bollywood crews

As we read on the “Rzeczpospolita” website, the findings of the CBA and prosecutor’s office investigation indicate that the purpose of the procedure was not only to facilitate entry to Poland for a group of Indians, but also for foreigners applying for Polish visas in Hong Kong, Taiwanin the United Arab Emirates, India, Saudi Arabia, Singaporein the Philippines and in Qatar.

The daily reports that the prosecutor’s office requested that Edgar K.’s detention be extended by three months, but the court did not agree to it at the end of August. He was to be released after paying PLN 200,000. PLN property guarantee.

According to the newspaper’s information, the Central Anticorruption Bureau was to place the later suspects in the case under operational control, including using wiretapping, after receiving the first signals of abuse in July last year. It was they who, as “Rzeczpospolita” writes, provided the services with knowledge about abuses.

The daily found that “a month after the arrest of the Indian entrepreneur Saikat B., on April 4, Edgar K. founded a company in Great Britain called Mutuari Limited.”

According to the company’s registration files, cited by “Rzeczpospolita”, its scope of activity is “creating business and home software and consulting activities in the field of information technology”. The prosecutor’s office requested the arrest of K., citing, among other things, for fear of escaping abroad and obstructing the proceedings.

“Rz” sent an inquiry to defense lawyer Edgar K., among others: whether the establishment of the company is related to visa outsourcing, based, as the daily indicates, on an IT system. In his response to the daily, attorney Maciej Zaborowski stated that he “will not comment on any information emerging in connection with the case in question.” “Rzeczpospolita” reminded that the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been using VFS Global in India for visa applications since 2019.