Germany demands clarification from Poland on ‘serious’ visa allegations

Germany has asked the Polish government to clear up “serious” visa fraud allegations ahead of elections in Poland dominated by immigration issues, sources in Berlin said Wednesday.

Polish media reports said a system for giving out Schengen visas to people from the Middle East and Africa in exchange for money was put in place through the Polish consulates and some external companies in the countries concerned.

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German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had called her Polish counterpart and Warsaw’s envoy to Berlin had been asked to appear at her ministry over the issue, officials said.

During the talks, Berlin demanded that Warsaw provide “rapid and complete clarification” of the “serious” allegations.

The authorities say the scheme may have involved several hundred Polish work visas, while the opposition says the real number could be around 250,000.

Poland’s secret service said last week that seven people had been detained in the scandal ahead of October 15 elections in which the governing party is running on an anti-immigration platform.

Three of the seven are under arrest, according to the prosecutor’s office, which is leading an inquiry into the alleged racket for fraudulently obtaining visas.

Polish media have reported that the foreign ministry was involved in the scheme, which the opposition Civic Platform party has branded “the biggest scandal in Poland in the 21st century”.

Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk resigned over the scandal last week, though the official reason for his departure was “absence of sufficient cooperation”.

The governing Law and Justice (PiS) party has for years used anti-immigrant rhetoric, which was credited as one of the main reasons behind their victory in 2015 parliamentary elections.

Nongovernmental organizations have accused the government of engaging in forceful pushbacks of migrants seeking to cross the border from Belarus illegally and refusing legitimate asylum claims.

The German officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Berlin was seeking information from Poland about how many visas were issued and the nationality of the recipients.

It said Warsaw had briefed Berlin on the investigation.

Germany’s federal police had already stepped up checks at the Polish border before the scandal erupted due to an increased influx of migrants.

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