Failure to reveal irregularities at ZUS blamed on political considerations

Irregularities affecting as many as 5% of the entire population of Poland were discovered as a result of an inspection of the Social Insurance Administration (ZUS) conducted in July this year by the Health Insurance Supervisory Office (UNUZ). However, no guidelines were issued after the inspection. "This happened due to political reasons," said UNUZ spokesman Marek Opasnik. "At that time Piotr Gryza, associated with then-minister Teresa Kaminska, was the head of UNUZ. Just before the election, it was considered that there was no mismanagement in ZUS." The irregularities included the misfiling of insured individuals' files, various violations of privacy and information regulations, and problems in the distribution of payments. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 6) M.T.