In the spotlight: Aleksandra Jakubowska
The Central Investigative Bureau (CB) arrested her last Thursday on charges of accepting bribes amounting to more than zł.550,000 in relation to the process of insuring the Opole electrical power plant.
Jakubowska is reported to have taken bribes for helping choose agents in the insuring process. The arrest means that Jakubowska could be spending a lot of time in court soon, as she still has to face charges related to the draft media bill in 2002. The changes that Jakubowska allegedly introduced in the draft bill gave birth to the infamous Rywingate scandal, in which she was one of the main suspects. The Rywingate inquiry commission interrogated Jakubowska a record 11 times.
The Rywingate scandal was the end of Jakubowska's short but very successful political career, which saw her become one of the most influential people on the left side of the political scene in less than 10 years. The former journalist, perhaps best known for walking out of a studio during an evening news broadcast in protest over changes in the Broadcasting Council's board, only got into politics in 1995, becoming the leftist government's spokesperson.
In 1997 she became a Deputy in the Sejm, in 1999 she became a member of the Democratic Left Alliance's (SLD) board, and a year later entered the party's Executive Committee. She then became the Deputy Minister of Culture as well as deputy chairperson of the party.
But after Rywingate, Jakubowska's lucky streak ended, and her rights as a member of SLD were suspended. She resigned from the party in December 2004 after her husband was arrested on charges of corruption.
