Donald Tusk, the head of Poland’s main opposition grouping, is being sued by Marek Falenta, the man responsible for making secret recordings that many believe helped bring down the government of Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) party in 2015.
Falenta – who was jailed for his part in the so-called tape affair – has filed a defamation claim against Tusk. He says the PO leader “formulated false and unsubstantiated claims” by suggesting Falenta had cooperated with the Russian security services, including selling them the secret recordings.
Falenta is demanding an apology from Tusk and 20,000 zloty in compensation, which will be given to support Ukraine.
The businessman also wants Tusk to face criminal charges for exceeding his authority as prime minister, a crime with a possible penalty of up to three years in prison. Falenta says Tusk used his powers to “interfere in the business activity” of one of his firms for “political” reasons, reports TVP Info.
Po publikacjach Rzeczkowskiego Marek Falenta złożył pozew, zawiadomienie ws. przestępstwa i akt oskarżenia przeciwko Donaldowi Tuskowi ws. afery taśmowej. https://t.co/qNB63pkTPS
— Samuel Pereira (@SamPereira_) November 14, 2022
The secret tape scandal recently returned to the headlines after Newsweek Polska reported that an associate of Marek Falenta had testified that the tapes fell into Russian hands before coming to light publicly.
The recordings, made at Warsaw restaurants, featured conversations between prominent public figures, including government officials and business leaders. The publication of their contents, which began in 2014, prompted the resignation in 2015 of three government ministers and the speaker of parliament.
Later that year, the PO-led government was ousted after two terms in office and replaced by a new administration led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which remains in power. Falenta was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of imprisonment in 2016, though he went on the run and evaded jail until 2019.
Spanish police have arrested Poland's 'most wanted man', millionaire businessman Marek Falenta, who was convicted over the secret recordings of politicians in a restaurant that sparked a major scandal for the previous government. He recently fled Poland https://t.co/cO8tullNqp
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 6, 2019
After the publication of the Newsweek article in mid-October, Tusk claimed that it had been in Moscow’s interests for his PO government to be replaced because he had proposed setting up an “energy union” to make the EU independent of Russian supplies.
He said that there was “Russian interest in Mr Falenta” and that the secret recordings were revealed just after Tusk had ordered an inspection of Falenta’s company, which dealt in coal trading. “The recordings were sold to the Russian services by Mr Falenta,” said Tusk, quoted by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
Tusk also suggested that Polish anti-corruption officers “loyal to PiS” had been “involved in the operation” and “were promoted after PiS took power”.
The PO leader called for an independent inquiry to ascertain “the relationship between the Russian services, PiS politicians and swindlers who made money from importing Russian coal”. Then “no one can speculate” that PiS “was in fact installed [in power] by the Russian services”.
The claims were immediately rejected by PiS, which takes a strongly anti-Russian line and has itself accused Tusk and PO of being too friendly towards – and even collaborating with – Russia. The PiS government in 2020 ordered state firms to stop importing Russian coal and this year also banned private businesses from doing so.
Soon after Tusk’s calls for an investigation based on the testimony of Falenta’s associate, the justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, released further testimony from the same source that claimed Tusk’s son has collected a €600,000 bribe. Michał Tusk denies the claim.
Falenta had earlier sued the publisher of Newsweek Polska saying that his image and name were made public without his consent. The businessman also accused the weekly magazine of breaching the principle of the assumption of innocence, TVP Info reports.
Donald Tusk has not commented on the two cases filed against him by Falenta.
After Tusk called for an inquiry following reports of testimony linking Russia to the scandal, the justice minister released testimony from the same source claiming that he handed Tusk’s son Michał a €600,000 bribe.
Tusk Jr says it is “total nonsense” https://t.co/7s2l39fVtc
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 19, 2022
Main photo credit: Piotr Drabik/Flickr (under CC BY-SA 2.0)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
