IPN: Wałęsa was paid informant in 1970s

Łukasz Kamiński, head of The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) said on Thursday that among documents seized from the house of late communist interior minister Czesław Kiszczak are papers indicating that Lech Wałęsa was a paid informant to the communist secret service (SB) in the 1970s. "In a folder, there is a handwritten obligation to cooperate with SB signed Lech Wałęsa 'Bolek'.  Among the documents there are also receipts of money received signed 'Bolek'," said Kamiński. "The folder holds 279 pages in their original covers, there are numerous reports of a secret collaborator nicknamed Bolek, and SB officers' accounts of meetings with the collaborator. Some of the reports are handwritten and signed Bolek," Kamiński added. The documents concern the period between 1970 and 1976. They were seized on Tuesday at the home of Kiszczak's widow, who allegedly tried to sell them to the IPN. Maria Kiszczak denied this version, saying that she contacted the IPN at the beginning of February to hand over the papers and the institute offered to pay her. Shortly after the action at Kiszczak's house, Lech Wałęsa, who has been denying accusations of being a paid informant since the early 90s said: “They even fight over the dead body of Kiszczak...You are not able to change the true facts through lies, slander and forgeries.” Wałęsa's first reaction to the IPN press conference on Thurdsay was a blog entry, which read: "There can not be any materials originating from me... I will prove it before the court." The alleged cooperation between Wałęsa and the secret service occurred after the repression of the 1970 Gdańsk strikes, in which Wałęsa participated. He broke ties with the SB  in 1976 and went on to become the legendary leader of the Solidarity movement and the president of Poland after the fall of the communism. Czesław Kiszczak was one of the masterminds behind the imposition of martial law in 1981.