Michnik reveals new facts to the Rywin Commission

Yesterday's testimony presented by the chief editor of Gazeta Wyborcza, Adam Michnik, to the Sejm Rywin Commission could bring crucial information to help solve the case. Although he did not reveal the details of his conversations concerning the affair with President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, he disclosed that on July 15, 2002, the day when Lew Rywin allegedly made his proposition to Michnik, Agora's President, Wanda Rapaczyńska, heard from Aleksandra Jakubowska, that the amendment to the media bill was ready, and that the government was scheduled to accept it the following day. This information was not revealed by any of the previous people interviewed by the Commission. It could mean two things. The first is that Rywin was bluffing and acted on his own, while the second suggests the opposite, namely that somebody in the government postponed the day the amendment was to be signed in order to help Rywin get his $17.5 million bribe. "It allows us to look at the evidence in a whole new light. One member of the Commission even said that all our work now has to start again from scratch," said Commission Chairman, Tomasz Nałęcz. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 1) A.K.