Zycie: Miller took apartment loan with bank owned by political opponent

Daily newspaper Zycie has revealed that Prime Minister Leszek Miller took a euro 42,914.41 mortgage with Bank Wspolpracy Europejskiej SA (BWE SA), owned by Aleksander Gudzowaty, owner of gas trading company Bartimpex. Bartimpex has recently been under criticism from government opposition leaders for favoring the Yamal gas line as Poland's chief gas supplier. Miller, on the other hand, is currently facing strategic choices regarding diversifying Poland's gas suppliers. According to government spokesman Michal Tober, the Prime Minister took the loan before he moved to a new apartment at the end of 2001, and the loan was negotiated between the residential developer and the bank. According to Zycie, which broke the story in today's issue, BWE has never offered housing loans and is not planning to do so in the future. (Zycie, pp. 1, 3) M.T.K.