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Flight Scandal Forces Resignation of Polish Parliament Speaker

Flight Scandal Forces Resignation of Polish Parliament Speaker

(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s parliamentary speaker resigned two months before parliamentary elections in an effort to contain a brewing scandal over his use of government aircraft.

While the ruling Law & Justice party has a comfortable lead in opinion polls over the pro-European opposition before the Oct. 13 ballot, a series of media reports about Speaker Marek Kuchcinski’s air travel risks undermining support. Formally, the speaker of the Sejm, or lower house of parliament, is the country’s second-highest post following the president.

Flight Scandal Forces Resignation of Polish Parliament Speaker

“The speaker didn’t break the law or existing etiquette,” ruling party chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski told a briefing Thursday, standing next to Kuchcinski. “Still, for a substantial part of the electorate this is a problem and we want to listen to the people.”

Kuchcinski announced he’ll leave the post Friday, the day he’s scheduled to face an opposition-led no-confidence vote. The Sejm’s website said the speaker took 85 flights on government jets, mostly to his constituency in south-eastern Poland. Some flights included his family members, some Law & Justice officials and once his wife flew alone.

Badminton Center

The opposition said the speaker’s trips appear to have little to do with his work and that Kuchcincki used the Gulfstream G550 jet as a personal “air taxi” for weekend trips home. State prosecutors have launched an investigation into the allegations.

The Sejm’s website said that Kuchcinski’s official trips included one where he broke ground for the construction of a badminton center in Przemysl, Poland, about 350 kilometers (200 miles) south of Warsaw. Another was to to attend a ceremony marking the millionth passenger on the Kiev-Przemysl train line.

Kuchcinski has apologized for his frequent use of the plane and said he did nothing illegal. He paid 15,000 zloty ($3,890) to charities to compensate for flying with his family and said he planned to make a further contribution of 28,000 zloty.

To contact the reporters on this story: Wojciech Moskwa in Warsaw at wmoskwa@bloomberg.net;Maciej Martewicz in Warsaw at mmartewicz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Andras Gergely

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