Sunday, August 17, 2008

Polish lobbyist Marek Dochnal has been arrested by the Internal Security Agency

Polish lobbyist Marek Dochnal has been arrested by the Internal Security Agency.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Cwiakalski has confirmed that Marek Dochnal was arrested at the request of the Organised Crime Department from the National Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice, southern Poland, Thursday evening, reports the Radio Information Agency (IAR).

An announcement released by the Internal Security Agency (ABW) informs that Dochnal was arrested as a result of information obtained by ABW that the lobbyist, who has been banned from leaving Poland because of his involvement in alleged corruption scandals, was planning to flee the country using a false identity.

ABW has denied allegations of Marek Dochnal’s legal counsel, Jacek Gutkowski that his client was arrested when he was dining with his family in a restaurant in the Polish seaside resort of Sopot, “ostentatiously and with the use of force”.

ABW press officer, Major Katarzyna Koniecpolska-Wroblewska told media that the arrest, “was made in a professional and discrete manner, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Proceedings”.

It is thought that the lobbyist was arrested for his involvement in an attempt to sell a group of Polish energy companies, the so-called G-8, to Russians. Allegedly, in order to do that, Dochanl engaged his old contacts among Polish politicians.

Lobbyist and businessman Marek Dochnal was first arrested in 2004 on charges of bribing a former MP Andrzej Peczak (Democratic Left Alliance - SLD) and money laundering. He was released from detention in February 2008 due to a lack of hard evidence, but was banned from leaving the country.
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