WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish prosecutors on Tuesday launched a criminal investigation into the recording of a private conversation between the country’s interior minister and the head of the central bank that was recently published by a magazine.
In the recording, which has stirred outrage in Poland, the two discussed how the National Bank of Poland could help the government deal with a budget deficit and increase its chances of winning re-election in 2015. The central bank is supposed to be independent from the government and interference either way is prohibited.
Renata Mazur, a spokeswoman for Warsaw prosecutors, said the probe was opened at the request of Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, who acted in the capacity of a victim.
In Poland, anyone, including a journalist, who uses bugging or wiretapping to get unauthorized access to information that is not destined for him or her can be sentenced to up to two years in prison.
It wasn’t clear who recorded the meeting at a Warsaw restaurant, but Poland’s domestic intelligence agency has identified a number of people who might be linked to the recordings and have searched several locations to secure evidence, agency spokesman Maciej Karczynski told the Associated Press.
In the recording, the head of the central bank, Marek Belka, requested a change of the finance minister in return for his favors. That minister, Jacek Rostowski, was replaced four months later, but Prime Minister Donald Tusk has denied it was a result of the talks.
Tusk has defended the two leaders, saying the conversation was in Poland’s interest, and that the secret bugging amounts to an attempted coup.
Opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has called on the government to step down and warned that he will seek a no-confidence vote in parliament.
The magazine which published the conversation, Wprost, had no immediate comment on the investigation Tuesday.
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