EU may seek euro 30 million compensation over suspected IACS corruption

The European Commission (EC) is reported to be dissatisfied with the way in which Poland has handled the construction of IACS, the system which will han dle the distribution of European Union (EU) support funds for the domestic a griculture sector. According to Rzeczpospolita, the EC suspects that it has discovered the biggest scandal since the beginning of Poland-EU relations. U nofficial information obtained from the EC reveals that next week the commis sioner for EU expansion, Guenter Verheugen, will forward a letter to Agricul ture Minister Jaroslaw Kalinowski, in which he will demand at least euro 30 million back from the EU PHARE fund earmarked for the construction of IACS. It could turn out that the system, a key factor in the integration of Polish and EU agriculture, would have to be built again from scratch. This could th reaten Poland's entry into the EU in 2004, which is the government's target date. According to unofficial information, the EU has reservations about the fact that the IACS system is managed by a private company and not a public i nstitution. EC employees also told Rzeczpospolita that the EC suspects corru ption was involved in the construction of IACS. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B1) P.J.