Accused former National Health chief says millions in Swiss Bank are legal

The former head of the National Health Fund (NFZ) Aleksander Nauman and his co-worker Wacław Bańbuła have been questioned by a local prosecutor's office in relation to a so-called 'equipment scandal'. According to Rzeczpospolita, the pair failed to answer all the prosecutor's questions. The pair also claimed that they had nothing to do with the scandal. However, the question of how an excessive amount of money (1.9 million Swiss franks) landed on the bank accounts that both of them have in Zurich remains unanswered. Nauman and Bańbuła consistently claim that they earned money 'in a legal way'. Last month the accounts were frozen by Polish and Swiss prosecutors investigating pharmaceutical irregularities. Nauman is accused of not only breaking the anti-corruption bill by holding shares in a private company and simultaneously being a Minister, but also cheating the budget out of zł.100 million by making the state pay for medical equipment which was supposed to be supplied for free. Rzeczpospolita found out that the hospital equipment that was donated by western companies in the 1990s was later on invoiced. Nauman’s Swiss bank has disclosed the names of 10 Poles to the Swiss Justice Ministry who are accused of taking bribes. (Rzeczpospolita, p.A3) J.J.