FBI intervention will hold the key to the National Lottery tender inve stigation

According to Puls Biznesu, the FBI will question several former managers of the American company AWI, which was one of three partnerships taking part in a multimillion dollar tender for on-line servicing of lottery machines for the Polish National Lottery (TS). This will have a major impact on an investigation conducted by the Lodz prosecutor about alleged corruption during tender procedures. "The investigation surrounding the affair has been suspended. We have asked for legal advice abroad, once we received this we will decide our next move," said Maria Swietlicka, a spokesperson for the Lodz Prosecutor. The investigation was started after former Justice Minister Lech Kaczynski revealed, "a person representing the management of TS was demanding that AWI grant Warsaw-based software company Support, which was to be a Polish partner to the American company lucrative contracts". According to Puls Biznesu, the value of these orders would be around zl. 40 million. "We have never been involved in any illegal activities and we have nothing to fear from the investigation," said president of Support Jacek Lyzba. According to Puls Biznesu, "The real beneficiary of these contracts would not be Support, but a company working with them - PZU-CL Agent Transferowy." (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 3) M.M.