Szmajdzinski continues to reject calls to reveal source of zl.300,000 loan

Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski, defiant in the face of calls to reveal the identity of the people from whom he borrowed zl.300.000, has said he will not provide their names in his next financial declaration. In the financial statement he submitted at the beginning of the current Sejm session, Szmajdzinski wrote that he had taken the loan from "individuals", without specifying who they were. Now Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) secretary-general Marek Dyduch has said the minister should reveal the names in his next declaration, arguing that, "It is required under the anti-corruption law concerning deputies." Szmajdzinski, saying he will stand by his refusal to reveal who his creditors are, commented, "Friendship is for ever, but being a minister is transitory." Members of parliament are required to submit their financial declarations for 2001 by April 30. (Zycie, p. 3) M.T.