In the spotlight: Zygmunt Solorz-Żak

The anticipated deal has been overshadowed by the disclosure that Polsat's owner collaborated with the communist secret services in the mid-1980s. Solorz-Żak, who in the 1980s had a number of passports issued under different names, admitted that he did cooperate with the communist secret services, but claims he was blackmailed into signing the cooperation agreement, didn't rat on anyone, didn't hurt anyone and just took part in a few meetings.

Old documents show that Solorz-Żak, who had the code name "Zeg," was supposed to gather information about Solidarity movements in the German state of Bavaria, the Polish Catholic Mission, and a priest affiliated with Radio Free Europe. The evaluation of his work by his supervisors ranged from "positive change in attitude towards secret services" and "relaxed behavior" during meetings to "little dedication and no initiative."

The communists terminated the cooperation in June 1985 due to the agent's low informative value and the fact that West German police were interested in him (due to his numerous identities). Nasz Dziennik has accused the Polsat president of working for Military Intelligence Services (WSI) after 1989, and that this helped the businessman accumulate his wealth. Solorz-Żak claims he never cooperated with the WSI and was unassociated with the communist services after 1985.