Polish ruling coalition accused of cronyism in appointments to state gambling firm

Poland’s ruling coalition has been hit by accusations of cronyism after a media report found that figures associated with the ruling parties have been given lucrative jobs at a state-owned gambling firm.

The claims are particularly embarrassing given that the government came to power last year pledging to end what it claimed was the common practice under the former Law and Justice (PiS) administration of making appointments based on political or personal connections rather than merit.

News of the allegedly political appointments has been met with criticism not only from PiS – which is now in opposition – but also from figures in the ruling camp. The state assets ministry has pledged to look into the claims. But the state firm in question has denied any irregularities.

The claims first emerged in an article by Onet, a leading news website, on Monday this week. It reported on the appointment of 13 new regional directors for Totalizator Sportowy, a state-owned firm that oversees various gambling operations, including Poland’s main national lottery.

Onet said that the new directors – who earn up to 20,000 zloty (€4,656) per month – were appointed without open competitions and that most are linked to Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main ruling party, or two of its junior coalition partners, the Polish People’s Party (PSL) and The Left (Lewica).

Four of them are local councillors from PO and PSL. Two others are former heads of the parliamentary offices of Sławomir Nitras, the current sports minister, and Stanisław Gawłowski, a PO senator. Another is a businessman who plays football with local PO politicians – including once with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

In response to Onet’s story, Totalizator Sportowy issued a statement “categorically denying the reports”. It said that “all persons who have taken up director positions in recent months meet the formal requirements necessary to perform managerial functions and have the necessary competences”.

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News of the alleged cronyism was condemned by the opposition, who pointed out that among Tusk’s 100 policy promises for his first 100 days in office was one to ensure that, when making appointments, “competence will be the deciding factor, not family and party connections”.

“Party activists associated with the groups forming the government have taken over Totalizator, in accordance with the promise that there will be no politicisation of [state] companies,” tweeted Michał Wojcik, an MP from the PiS caucus, ironically. “You were fooled by voting for these liars.”

“Remember how local activists from PO, PSL and The Left published lists of fat cats from PiS employed in public companies?” wrote Stanisław Tyszka, an MP from Confederation (Konfederacja). “Well, now these people are doing exactly the same thing in Totalizator. No change.”

But criticism also came from within the ruling camp. “This is not what we agreed with Poles,” tweeted the Poland 2050 (Polska 2050) party, which is part of Tusk’s coalition. “Professionalism, not TKM.”

“TKM” is an abbreviation of a vulgar phrase in Polish, teraz kurwa my, that translates roughly as “now it’s our fucking turn”. It is used to describe the practice that, when a new government comes to power, it replaces its predecessor’s appointees with its own people.

“There is nothing worse for the image of the [ruling] coalition than a comparison that we do the same thing [as PiS did when in power], that we are not much different,” said Anita Kucharska-Dziedzic, an MP from The Left, quoted by broadcaster TVN.

On Tuesday, the state assets ministry, which oversees state-owned companies, responded to the controversy in a statement, saying that the issues reported by Onet are “very serious”.

“Since Monday morning, we have been analysing whether the media reports correspond to the facts,” they added. “We have asked the supervisory board [of Totalizator Sportowy] for comprehensive information on this matter. If the reports of irregularities are confirmed, we will take action.”

Speaking later on Tuesday to broadcaster TVN, deputy prime minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said that, “if there was a [hiring] contest in which a political activist with no qualifications won, that’s a scandal. If someone is incompetent, they should absolutely be stripped of their position”.

But Gawkowski added that, if someone is a political activist but also has appropriate competences to hold the position, “that is not a scandal”.

Main image credit: Ministerstwo Sportu i Turystyki (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.