WARSAW, Sept 12 (Askume) – Polish lawmakers tasked with investigating government allegations that central bank Governor Adam Glapinski broke the law are aiming to begin hearing witness testimony this month, the chairman of a parliamentary committee said on Thursday.
Grabinsky was accused of lacking independence from the previous government, violating regulations, preventing the central bank from accessing government borrowing, and misleading the Treasury about the bank’s financial performance.
The governor, who has decades-long ties with opposition Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who lost power last year, dismissed the allegations as “political” and “baseless”, even “stupid”.
“I expect the investigation to begin in September,” Zdzislaw Gawlik, chairman of the parliamentary committee and a lawmaker from the main ruling coalition party, told Askume.
The committee aims to question dozens of officials, including Grabinski, who begins his second six-year term as central bank governor in 2022.
Golik declined to say who would be called first and gave no timetable for the action, which is taking place as Poland’s main political parties prepare for presidential elections next May.
“I’m not going to make any assumptions about the outcome of the committee’s work. We need to review whether the allegations … justify a motion to bring Adam Grabinski to state court.”
Golik told reporters separately that he believed Grabinski would be one of the last people to be questioned.
Unlike the rest of central Europe, Poland’s central bank has kept interest rates on hold this year as the government’s end to energy price subsidies is expected to boost prices.
The final proposal to send Poland’s top people to the national court must be voted on by parliament before it can move forward.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that MPs cannot question the central bank governor as placing the bank under parliamentary control would violate the bank’s independence.
Golik told reporters that he and the committee would act within the ambit of the law.
The committee will decide its agenda on Thursday.
