LPR deputy faces charges over using bank funds to finance election campaign

Justice Minister Grzegorz Kurczuk yesterday signed a motion which was sent to the Sejm to lift the immunity of Witold Hatka, a Deputy of the Polish Families League (LPR). The prosecutor in Kalisz wants to formally accuse Hatka of embezzling zł. 2.6 million from Wielkopolski Bank Rolniczy. In 2002, when Witold Hatka was the president of the bank's board, he ordered an employee to transfer the amount in question to an account belonging to his private company, Hatrol. "The amount which was lost by the bank is significant. This is a crime which can lead to a sentence of up to ten years in jail," said the prosecutor's spokesman Janusz Walczak. The money was later transferred from the bank to other companies, only to eventually disappear. According to unofficial information it was spent on LPR's election campaign, as Roman Giertych and Marek Kotlinowski, the two key players in the political party, were Hatka's closest business partners. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 5) A.K.