It has been six years since Northern Ireland experienced an influx of Polish migrant workers under EU expansion.

But how many of those are beginning to put down firm roots? BBC News Online's Emily Thomas explores the integration of Polish immigrants in Northern Ireland.

The view that all Polish people in Northern Ireland are temporary migrant workers is beginning to fade.

As Polish Cultural Week draws to a close, Belfast has for the fourth year running been exposed to all things Polish, from decorative paper cutting to traditional folk music.

The festival does more than display Poland's cultural offerings. The scale of the 11-day event reflects the presence of Northern Ireland's large Polish migrant population.

And the recent recruitment of the first Polish police officer, due to begin work in Newry, Co Down, indicates genuine integration of Polish migrants is increasingly taking place.

This is quite a progression from 2008 when it was revealed that no Polish people were accepted into the PSNI, following a recruitment drive in 2006 that attracted applications from 968 Poles.

Poles apart?

Dr Marta Kempny, of Queen's University, has studied Polish immigration to NI extensively.

She says immigrants find the place "very accommodating", and feel they receive great help from the local institutions and public sector.

But some evidence suggests the situation isn't always so rosy.

Race hate crimes have grown steadily in the past 10 years.

When police started recording racially motivated crime in 1996 there were just 41 incidents, but in the past year 712 racist crimes were committed, and 1,038 racist incidents reported.

A freedom of information request in 2009 revealed that 28% of racist crimes were committed against Polish people.

And in July 2008 an Equality Commission survey found negative views towards minority groups were considerably more prevalent than three years earlier.

These tensions have been shown through a number of racially motivated incidents.

Tensions

In April, a Polish family's shop in Ballymoney was defaced with racist graffiti. Shortly afterwards the family said they would continue to trade - but would remove the sign saying 'Polish shop'.

In the same month the High Court in Belfast heard that there was a "racist motive" to the murder in Newry in 2009 of a Polish man, who had been kicked in the head and had his throat stamped on.

And in June 2009 it was claimed that 40 immigrants left their homes in Belfast amid tensions following riots involving NI and Polish football fans.

Maciej Bator, director of the Polish Association of Northern Ireland, emphasises that it is "just a minority" of people "who think NI is just for the British and Irish" and explains the rise in hate incidents as partly to do with increased awareness amongst Polish immigrants.

"After six years Polish people understand the mechanisms of defence: how they can get in touch with the PSNI and what a hate crime is, and they have the confidence to report crimes," he said.

He said the situation for immigrants is complicated by the "different rules" in "different communities", and says Polish people need "to learn the rules of both".

Dr Kempny acknowledges that discrimination is still an issue, but says it occurs "mostly at work places of individuals, who are often exploited and abused by their employers".

She says the "problem of ethnic hatred and prejudice" has been "gradually decreasing" since 2004, as locals have become more used to newcomers.

A "religious factor" still plays an important role in integration between the Polish and Northern Irish, she said, as "Polish people are considered as predominantly Catholics by the Northern Irish community".

"In my research I came across certain situations in which individuals who rented accommodations in the Protestant areas of Belfast, the Village in particular, have experienced incidents of hate crime", she added.

Dr Kempny emphasises that the process of integration has only just started, with the population becoming stable and people settling to have families and intending to stay permanently.

"More time is needed for some individuals to learn intercultural awareness and tolerance," she said.

Influx

And it's undeniable that Polish people and locals in NI faced a steep learning curve.

The rise in numbers of immigrants to NI over the past six years has been sudden and dramatic.

Before 2004 there were no more than 30 Polish people living in NI, according to Mr Bator.

Since then, the decline in paramilitary violence, the joining of Poland to the EU and the rise of unemployment in Poland led to an influx of Polish immigrants, with the Polish community now estimated to be around 35,000.

This amounts to less than 2% of the population, but a significant proportion of the migrant population; almost 60% of migrants to NI from the new EU states are Polish.

'Suspicious'

Official figures indicate that the immigration rate may now be slowing, partly due to the economic downturn and increased opportunities in Poland.

In fact, Poland is now experiencing its own influx of immigration, explored in Borders, a photographic exhibition for Polish Cultural Week, showing members of different ethnic groups wearing Polish national costumes.

Festival co-ordinator Ewa Grosman hopes that the festival will show the Northern Irish how much Polish culture has to offer.

"The week shows that Polish people in the community bring their own culture that is rich and worth exploring", she said.

Mr Bator says that Northern Irish people are already very curious about Polish culture, with many visiting Krakow.

"The Northern Irish are a bit suspicious at the beginning," he says, "but when you find a way to reach them they are very friendly and welcoming."

40 years illegal immigrant netted in Krakow

2010-05-10T20:11:00.000+02:00

From: The News

A routine check by border guards from the Kraków-Balice airport discovered a Japanese man who has been illegally living in Poland for 40 years.

Officers were astounded when they asked for the ID of an elderly Japanese shopper during their check carried out near one of Kraków’s shopping centres. The man explained that he had come to Poland for the first time when he was 19. He studied Polish in Lódz for a year then enrolled to read economy in Kraków, where he then stayed for 23 years.

In that time he periodically travelled to Japan, returning to Kraków, where he finally settled in 2004.

By then all of his documents, passport included, were no longer valid. He told officers that he made a living from teaching Japanese. The man is now 59 and possibly for years he has been on the missing list in Japan.

He will now have to leave Poland in the nearest few days.

Polish banks trapped in their own monopoly

2010-05-09T16:39:00.001+02:00

From: Polish Market

Ciech

You will be forgiven for having missed the headline, but epic news was out just recently. News of herculean efforts that in ancient times would have forced the chroniclers to sit down with their pens to save the saga for the ages. In the current age, I've been handling the paeons, putting it up blow by blow on my service, capped with a recent six-part feature in April.

So here it is: The Polish chemical group Ciech signed a debt restructuring deal with its numerous creditors. After some 18 months of negotiations.
Underwhelmed? You shouldn't be.

Polish banks face huge problems when the time comes to restructure the debts of a troubled corporate client. Ciech is only the latest in a long line of tragi-comic examples. Troubles usually involve having too many banks around the table - seventeen in the case of Ciech.

Polish banks have a stranglehold monopoly on corporate finance as Poland does not yet have a corporate bond market that can attract serious financial investors. But the banks are too small to handle the financing of major firms alone. The result - any number of large-cap firms have loans at nearly every major bank in town.

To wit: the combined assets of Poland's commercial banks, now at nearly PLN 1 trillion, constitute a mere 17% of the group assets of Deutsche Bank. Poland's largest bank, the state-controlled PKO BP, has just 15% of that total. And prior to the financial crisis, more and more banks were working overtime to muscle their way in.

Tough market. Unless you were a large-cap borrower, that is. A financial director at any respected large firm could bicker down interest rates and often secure funding without even putting up fixed assets as collateral. When worse comes to worse - and it did - any number of banks find themselves negotiating debt restructuring without much collateral to back up their demands for repayment.

Find seventeen different banks around the table and you likely get seventeen different approaches to the client. Perhaps thirty-four, once you count in those foreign parents.

One bank throws the deal quickly to the collection team, a pretty "get-serious" approach. Another bank might go easy. Clients naturally begin to play one bank off another. Alternatively, one bank might have collateral and another might not, meaning one can play hard ball, the other can't. One bank might have the liquidity to rattle on with tough talks, one might be in a position of preferring fast cash. First versus last in, collateral, capital and liquidity strength and the attitude of the parent bank all shape behavior.

Why struggle in such talks for 18 months when a bankruptcy filing would do?, you might ask. Not Poland, where bankruptcy courts move slowly, are subject to numerous appeals and give creditors little sway over the actions of the receiver. The average bankruptcy runs three years and bears costs at up to 20% of the estate, the World Bank's and EBRD's 2010 report "Doing Business in Poland" states. Creditors recover an average of 30 cents on the dollar. The OECD average is a 1.7 year procedure bearing costs at 8.4% of the estate and with a recovery rate of 68.6%. Bankruptcy filings are reserved for only those cases in which a bank fears that a third party might cart away assets.

And those are just the standard barriers.

Ciech went the extra mile to make matters interesting. Ciech had taken some of the market's worst headlines in the FX options scandal that had given Poland its own form of toxic asset. Before Ciech could talk out a broader deal, the firm had to sit down with its banks to avoid a crushing margin call on FX options gone bad. Bankers started the game with a load of mistrust to the firm. When they saw that all their banker colleagues around town had sold speculative FX options to Ciech, they also lacked a lot of trust for one another.

Police track Polish man to mother’s house and bring him back to Britain

2010-05-08T16:38:00.000+02:00

From: Telegraph and Argus

West Yorkshire Police today warned criminals there is no hiding place after a third Polish national was locked up for attacking a fellow countryman.

Remigiusz Klata, 26, was jailed for eight and a half years at Bradford Crown Court after he was brought back to the UK.

Detectives teamed up with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and Interpol to bring him to justice.

Klata and his two accomplices inflicted grievous bodily harm on Artur Wojtowicz at his flat in Bankfoot, Bradford, in 2007.

He suffered stab wounds to his shoulder and hand and stamping injuries that left a shoe imprint on his back.

Rafal Krajewski, 31, of Manningham Lane, Manningham, was jailed for nine years last August after he was tried in his absence when he jumped bail and went back to Poland. He later handed himself in at Milton Keynes.

Grzegorz Holubowicz, 29, of Parsonage Road, Tyersal, was given a seven-year prison sentence after standing trial.

Klata, of Seaton Street, Barkerend, fled the country after pleading guilty in June 2008.

He was arrested on January 20 at his parents’ home in Poland and extradited to the UK. Klata’s barrister, Nick Askins, said he went back to Poland because of the death of his grandfather and did not return because he knew he was in trouble.

The Judge, Recorder Jonathan Sandiford, branded the assault a pre-planned “ordeal of injury and humiliation.” Klata played a leading role, holding a knife to Mr Wojtowicz’s throat and lunging at him with the weapon.

The judge commended West Yorkshire Police officers Detective Constable Julia Tiplady, Detective Constable Neil Sharpe and case worker Johanna Bolt for their work on “a difficult and, at times, distressing case.”

He praised officers for surmounting the language barrier and for their persistence in seeing all three men were brought to justice.

A Polish police officer is the last person he should expect to harm him

2010-05-07T16:38:00.000+02:00

From: NPE

A Warsaw resident was awarded PLN 80,000 this week for injuries suffered when a police anti-terrorist squad raided his flat, only to discover later they had the wrong address. The mix-up occurred in February 2008 when masked officers burst into the home of 28-year-old Piotr D. shouting, “On the floor!” before throwing the IT consultant to the ground.

As a result of the incident Piotr D. is unable to play sport and claims to have mental scars as well. He was demanding PLN 200,000 in compensation but Bialystok Police Headquarters, who ordered the arrest, refused to pay. Bialystok Police admit the mistake, but say it was the anti-terror squad, who come under the jurisdiction of the Central Police Headquarters in Warsaw, who should pay.

Delivering her verdict, judge Hanna Jaworska said, “Citizens should have faith that a police officer is the last person he should expect to harm him.”

Outrage at Smolensk scavangers

2010-05-06T16:37:00.000+02:00

From: NWE

The country was rocked this week by the news that less than a month after the tragic air disaster at Smolensk, people are making their way up to the site in order to scavenge around and find personal belongings once owned by the victims of the crash.

As ordinary citizens make their way up to the swamp ground to pray and pay their last respects to those who died in the airplane accident, many are taking the opportunity to stage their own personal ‘treasure hunt’, hoping to take away their own personal souvenirs from the crash that has caused deep shock amongst the nation.

While there have been calls from the Polish government to secure the area, it seems that little has been done by the Russian side to uphold the requests.

“As we arrived, there were already a line of parked cars on the road ahead of us,” says Mrs Wieslaw, who went to visit the site. “Not only that, but Polish trucks and several cars with Russian number plates too.”

And it appears that for those wishing to make a bit of an effort, the searching around in the mud and dirt has already paid off dividends.

Amongst some of the items that have been reported to have been found is a 36th Special Air Transport emblem from one of the onboard seats, fragments of the aircraft and other assorted cables and wires.

According to one searcher, Rafal Dzieciolowskiego, a member of his group was able to track down the passport belonging to Gabriela Zych, the Chairman of the Kalisz Katyn Families Association.

“We had to clean up the document first as it was covered in dirt, but it was still completely intact,” he says.

“But the worst thing we came across was a large piece of flesh,” continues Dzieciolowskiego. “It was slightly bigger than a human hand and caked in mud. It was monstrous and the smell left us with little doubt as to what we had found. The only thing to do was move to a dry patch of ground and bury it with dignity.”

While there have not yet been reports of people profiting from goods and items found at the site via the black market, one group told of how they were approached by a Russian man who was willing to pay for what they had found.

“On one occasion, we were approached by a Russian man offering us as much as PLN 500 for a piece of the plane, however we had already decided that we were not looking to profit from the trip and refused to discuss this matter with him.”

Interview: 'The Only Politically Acceptable Explanation Is To Blame Polish Pilots'

2010-05-05T06:09:00.000+02:00

From: RFE/RL

Parliament speaker and acting president, Bronislaw Komorowski

Twenty-two candidates are planning to participate in Polish presidential elections following the April 10 plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of members of the country's top military, political, and church elite. The candidates include the president's twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the former prime minister.

As the country reels from anger and shock over the crash, Poles are also facing the possibility of a shift toward warmer relations with Moscow once the country is under new leadership. Evidence of such a thaw could be seen in today's decision by Moscow to release a batch of previously sealed files related to the 1940 Katyn massacre.

RFE/RL Georgian Service correspondent Nino Gelashvili talked to political expert Przemyslaw Zurawski vel Grajewski of the Natolin European Center in Warsaw and the University of Lodz about the emerging political situation in Poland.

RFE/RL: April 10 must have been a very emotional day. What were you most worried about upon hearing about the crash?

Zurawski vel Grajewski: Well, political stability is not the best word, but perhaps the political "balance" in Poland. Because even though there were politicians from all political camps who died in the crash, it was still the presidential camp -- connected to the Law and Justice Party -- that suffered the largest number of casualties. And this was the main party of opposition to the government's Civic Platform Party. Try to imagine 80 politicians from the U.S. Republican Party dying in a plane crash. That was the scale of the impact on the Polish political scene.

RFE/RL: How important was Lech Kaczynski in determining your country's domestic and foreign policy?

Zurawski vel Grajewski: He was a public enemy of the government. So Poland is deeply divided now. This has been the situation for the past two years. The president was the official head of the minority camp. I stress the word "official" since the real operational head was his twin brother. And the president was the target of very cruel and, in my opinion, unjust attacks during his presidency.

On the other hand, his supporters think that he was the symbol of a policy based on the dignity of Poland -- Poland as a real independent country that has its own point of view and that respects the point of view of smaller neighbors from the region, and not only that of great powers from the West. So for his camp, and for me as well, he was the symbol of an independent position -- the subject, not the object, of Central and Eastern Europe in relations with France and Germany, as well as Russia.

RFE/RL: Current polls show the Civic Platform candidate Bronislaw Komorowski, the parliament speaker and acting president, with a strong lead over Jaroslaw Kaczynski. But those polls were conducted before Kaczynski formally declared his candidacy. The elections are in mid-June. Is it possible to predict an outcome for the vote at this point?

Zurawski vel Grajewski: Every public poll that has been conducted in Poland since 1989 has proved to be wrong. They never guess the real result. I have no idea what the reality is right now. What I can say is that Komorowski was heavily criticized publicly for the speeches he gave during the period of mourning [following the crash]. They were very official and delivered without real sorrow. It was obvious that they weren't sincere.

But I don't think we can build any prognosis on that simple statement because a president is something more than a man who delivers speeches at funerals. There are two months ahead, and a lot depends on the results of the investigation of the origins of the crash.

RFE/RL: Are you hopeful the real cause of the crash will be uncovered?

Zurawski vel Grajewski: By the Russians? Of course, no. Whether the Polish services are able to do that, since the crash took place on Russian territory, I don't know. What I can say is that the only politically acceptable explanation is to blame Polish pilots. Because any other explanation would be cause for a huge scandal.

It could have been a mistake by the Russian air-traffic controllers, or the crash of a Russian-produced and Russian-repaired plane, or a deliberate action by the Russians -- all three of these scenarios would cause a huge international scandal. So the only acceptable political explanation is to blame the Poles. I think this will be the result of the Russian investigation.

Many people think Poland's relationship with Russia is going to change. Some say they will grow warmer, some say colder. Both of those views are now colored by the events of April 10. Do you see any potential for ties to improve?

Zurawski vel Grajewski: There's an expectation among a large part of the Polish population that ties will improve. In my opinion, it's very naive, but that's the way it is and that's part of our political reality. It's based on emotions. Ordinary Russians showed sympathy for our tragedy. On the other hand, we have to remember that there are real, tangible contradictions of interests between Poland and Russia. I mean contradictions in the energy dimension, contradictions as far as the future enlargement of NATO to include Georgia and Ukraine.

A lot depends on the Americans. If they maintain this "reset" policy with Russia, there will be no external power to support us. If we are too weak to oppose Russian interests, that could help reduce tensions. But the real reason for the reduction would be the fact that Russia was winning the game, not because the contradictions would disappear. Very few people speak publicly about this contradiction of political interests. The ones who could died in the crash.

RFE/RL: Do you think the Polish people care about the stance their future leader will take on Russia? Will it be an important election issue?

Zurawski vel Grajewski: Yes, I think it will. But Poland is deeply divided on that. I mean, there are a lot of people who think that we are too small and too weak to act independently. We currently have no American support, and of course no support from the EU, which is governed by the pro-Russian Germany and France. So we can do nothing -- that's one point of view.

The other point of view -- represented by a minority, by the late president's camp -- is that we have no other choice but to defend our own interests in cooperation with our smaller partners in the region. But I think this political camp is on the retreat. It has suffered the worst casualties.

I'm afraid that this naive point of view of relying on Western support will prevail and that we will try to "reset" our relations with Russia as well. And I'm afraid that Russia will play the way it played in 2006, with the Hungarians and the Czechs on one side and Poland on the other. At that time, the Czechs and Hungarians were good guys, and we were bad. Now, I think, we'll be chosen to be the good guys while the Baltic states will be the bad guys. And Poland won't be able to support Georgia as a state. The Polish state is paralyzed now. It will take a year, maybe two. ...It's a dangerous situation for all of us.

Up in smoke

2010-05-04T06:11:00.000+02:00

From: NPE

Four hundred cannabis plants have been seized by customs officials in the small village near Ozarow Mazowiecki, central Poland.

Officers estimate a street value of around PLN 300,000 and three Vietnamese men have been arrested in connection with the haul.

Two of those in custody, were reportedly are illegal immigrants, having forged Bulgarian ID documents, according to Border Guard Section Agnieszka Golias.

Drunk driving offences up

2010-05-03T06:10:00.000+02:00

From: The News

Over 2,000 drivers were caught drunk behind the wheel over the long May weekend in Poland, with 35 killed and 500 injured.

Police say the casualty rate could grow further as many were leaving it till Tuesday to make the journey home after visiting friends and family over the May1 to May 3 weekend.

The number caught drunk driving increased significantly compared to last year, said press spokeswoman at Police HQ in Warsaw, Grazyna Puchalska.

“Many [caught] were not those who got behind the wheel immediately after drinking, but those who drank the evening before,” she said, reminding the alcohol stays in the body and can be detected hours after drinking.

2010-04-17T22:41:00.000+02:00

From: NPE

A collection of underage pornographic images were discovered when thieves broke into a man’s house in Bogatynia, Lower Silesia.

During the break-in, Arkadiusz R., 44, had his basement raided and his vast collection of illegal images were found.

“The thieves broke into his basement and the suspect was found under rather unusual circumstances.” says Pawel Petrykowskie of the Lower Silesia police.

And unusual circumstances they certainly were. Instead of making off with their intended collection of loot, the robbers stumbled across the disturbing images before passing the information onto the relevant authorities.

“In the apartment, the suspect had secured more than a dozen albums, all of which contained pornographic material involving minors under the age of 15 years.”

“To make matter worse, in addition to all of this, we found a number of pictures on his mobile phone.”

The suspect’s computer and telephone are now in the possession of the police experts and examinations are being carried out on all of the CDs and DVDs.

Arkadiusz R. has since been taken into police custody where he is now being questioned. For the possession of child pornography, he faces a potential five years behind bars.

Giertych slams Kaczynski

2010-04-16T22:40:00.000+02:00

From: NPE

Giertych had a few choice words about Kaczynski's rule

A former education minister has launched a withering attack on Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, accusing him of trying to obtain “absolute power” when he was prime minister.

Roman Giertych, who served in the Kaczynski cabinet during the 2005 to 2007 Law and Justice coalition government, pulled no punches in a savage character assessment of Mr Kaczynski.

Speaking before a parliamentary committee into illegal political influence, Mr Giertych accused the former prime minister of trying to remove the checks and balances that limited his power when in office.

“The president of Law and Justice wanted not only to guarantee his absolute authority, but to remove the ‘brakes’ on power and all those who interfered with him in the pursuit of this,” said Mr Giertych.

The ex-education minister, who led the League of Polish Families (LPR) as a junior partner in the PiS coalition government, claimed that Mr Kaczynski’s first target was the constitutional tribunal, which had frustrated PiS’s attempts to create its much lauded fourth republic.

According to Mr Giertych, the PiS leader instructed Zbigniew Ziobro, his justice minister, to draw up changes to the law that would limit the tribunal’s role and put more power into the hands of the president, Mr Kaczynski’s twin brother Lech.

He also wanted to shackle the press, which was giving his government a torrid time, by creating a new court, with its officials appointed by the president, to oversee and rule on any complaints against the media.

Along with striking out at institutions Mr Kaczynski, said the former education minister, also tried to control other politicians by gathering useful information that he could use against them. Along with employing this technique to try and keep his troublesome collation partners under his thumb, he also speculated using it against opposition politicians.

“He had a plan to gain absolute power by winning elections by pulling strings he had on people in the opposition,” said Mr Giertych.

He added that Mr Kaczynski had told him that he had information on the family affairs of Civic Platform (PO) leader Donald Tusk that could be used against him, as well as damaging material on other leading PO members.

A 14-year-old mother had five partners

2010-04-15T21:26:00.000+02:00

From: News

16, 20, 25, 26 and 29 years old were the men who maintained intimate contacts with the then 13-year-old girl from a small village in the Pomorze region. She got pregnant with one of them and gave birth to the child in a school restroom. It took a few months to determine paternity.

The girl gave birth at the end of October. It happened in the restroom next to the gym’s changing room at the school which she attends. Before that, nobody had known that she was pregnant.

At the beginning, the girl claimed that she had been raped by two acquaintances from a nearby village. Both men were arrested but it turned out that they had not raped the girl, also neither of them was the father of the child. One of them was acquitted of all charges, the other man has been charged with statutory rape.

The search for the father continued. Eventually it turned out that the girl had had five partners. She got pregnant with the youngest one – nearly 16-year-old boy from the same village. As the girl’s mother put it, “they got on with each other” but “he wasn’t even her boyfriend”.

The little baby-girl is taken care of by her grandmother and the girl has returned to school. The men she slept with will be tried for statutory rape, which is punishable with imprisonment up to twelve years.

The biggest Polish plantation of marijuana has been discovered

2010-04-14T21:26:00.000+02:00

From: News-Poland

Instead of a dry-cleaner’s, the biggest plantation of cannabis in Poland. In a small village Radzwice (near Kórnik, in the Wielkopolska region), there were about ten thousands plants, occupying an area of nearly one thousand square metres.

The plantation had its own escape routes, leading to the forest nearby. It was also well prepared to a wholesale production of drugs. There were even special hidden trapdoors leading to a basement, where cultivation halls were located. The biggest plants were up to one and a half metre long.

However, the above mentioned escape routes did not work out. The police caught the whole band. Moreover, on the crime scene 150 kilograms of dried plants and 40 kilograms of a ready-to-sale marijuana were found. The value of the discovered drugs was estimated to be about one million zlotys.

All of the arrested are well known to the local police. They had been sentenced for battery and frauds, among others. For production illegal drugs on a big scale, they can be imprisoned for at least three years.

A man of 40 names disguised for a woman

2010-04-13T21:25:00.000+02:00

From: News-Poland

He put a lot of effort into not getting caught. A couple of years ago, he travelled through Europe dressed up as a woman. He adopted 40 different identities. But his freedom has finally come to an end. Mariusz W. “Bronek,” one of the most wanted Polish criminals, got caught in Barcelona. According to the prosecution, he is responsible for murders, batteries and robberies.

“Mariusz W. was being tracked down for six years with four warrants of arrest, three European Warrants of Arrest, and a couple of orders of his conveyance. He is accused of murders, mugging, body damage, and thefts,” informed Agnieszka Hamelusz from the Press Department of the Police Headquarters.

She added that the apprehension was possible only thanks to the cooperation between the Polish and Spanish police. “Bronek” was caught in Barcelona. The pinpointing of his whereabouts and the arresting procedure posed serious difficulties, since he was using the identities of 40 different people. The Police from Gdansk even managed to establish that in the years 2001/2002 he was travelling through Europe pretending to be a woman,” added Hamelusz.

Grievous after-Easter report

2010-04-12T21:25:00.000+02:00

From: News-Poland

Since Friday, Polish police have detained almost 1.8 thousand drivers driving under the influence. During those four days of Easter, 27 persons died and 393 were injured in 292 accidents. These data are promising because they mean that there have been 25 per cent fewer accidents than in the previous year.

The countrywide police campaign connected with Easter started on Friday. Almost ten hundred policemen controlled, first of all, drivers' speed. “There were 20-25 per cent fewer accidents than last year” - told us Robert Horosz, a spokesperson of Polish Police Headquarters.

To compare: Last year during Easter, 35 persons died and 542 were injured in 382 car accidents. The police detained then as many as 1959 under the influence drivers.

Poland Ambassador: Delegation Likely Pressured Kaczynski Plane Captain

2010-04-11T15:32:00.002+02:00

From: novinite.com

The captain of the Polish government plane, which crashed near Smolensk on Saturday, was likely pressured by the high-ranking delegation, said Poland’s Ambassador to Sofia, Andrzej Papierz.

“The easiest thing is to put the blame on the pilot because he was in charge but I would abstain from doing that,” His Excellency said talking to Bulgarian journalists after the service in the Catholic cathedral in Sofia honoring the memory of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and the other 95 person who died in the horrific crash on their way to the Katyn Massacre remembrance ceremonies.

“I wouldn’t want to elaborate on this topic but I have traveled with such delegations many times, and I know that there is enormous pressure piling on the pilot in such cases even if the person in charge of the flight believes landing should not be attempted,” Papierz declared commenting on why the Polish pilot attempted to land at Smolensk even though he was advised by the Russian dispatchers to land in Minsk.

Papierz pointed out that a lot of people had gathered for the remembrance of the 70th year since the Katyn Massacre, and after landing at Smolensk, the VIP Polish delegation, which was led by President Kaczynski, had to travel another 15 km to the actual spot of the ceremonies. The Belorussian capital Minsk, where the plane was advised to land, is located 150 km away from the Katyn Massacre site, and the delegation probably decided that landing there would mean a huge delay.

Ambassador Papierz said he participated in the opening of the Polish military cemetery near Katyn 10 years ago, and knows the fatal airport at Smolensk where Kaczynski’s plane attempted to land.

“This is one of the many military airports, in the woods, I don’t see any fault on part of the Russians here. These are very narrow, surrounded by forests, there was a very thick fog, and this is what caused this tragedy,” Poland’s Ambassador in Sofia suggested as cited by BTA.

He said that authorities would probably be more careful in sending such large VIP delegations on one plane. In his words, the Bulgarian President travels the same way with his delegations when he visits foreign countries.

“We are not so rich as to have Air Force 1 planes, and to transport everyone individually. This is our reality. There has been much talk of buying new planes but the society is very sensitive towards such purchases; such decisions are viewed very negatively by the people, I think the situation in Bulgaria is similar. People see them as a kind of privilege, and as a result our government had two Tu-154 airplanes, and one of them crashed,” Papierz concluded.

He did stress that the specially appointed commission would have to investigate and find out what exactly happened with the plane.

“There are many personal tragedies here. The President’s mother was brought home from the hospital yesterday, she is in a very serious condition. She probably has not even been told that her son perished,” said the Polish Ambassador.

The one-week mourning in Poland for the casualties of the horrific crash started on Sunday.

Clemency for Polish rapist?

2010-04-10T09:19:00.000+02:00

From: thenews.pl

The District Court in Poznan, mid western Poland, has postponed till Wednesday, a review of a petition for the pardon of Jakub Tomczak (pictured) convicted to a double-life prison term by a UK court for a brutal rape.

The man was sentenced in January 2008 to double life imprisonment by a British court after being found guilty of the rape and battery of a 48 year-old woman in Exeter, southwest England. The attack was so brutal the woman has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.

Tomczak’s case has set a legal precedent as, originally, the Polish court had not evaluated any of the evidence at the trial, limiting its verdict to the duration of imprisonment in Poland ruled by the British side. Though it upheld the sentence, the Polish penal code does not envisage “double life imprisonment”.

Tomczak’s family filed the request for a pardon with the Presidential Chancellery with over 6,500 signatures in support. They claim Jakub Tomczak’s case had not been fully reviewed by the court in Exeter and the fact that the victim was a local police employee and her husband a policeman, stirred public emotions and subsequently could have influenced the court’s decision.

Tomczak, then back in Poznan, voluntarily gave a DNA sample to police after he was suspected of committing the crime. The DNA matched a semen sample from the scene of the crime.

Virgin Mary puts drivers’ lives at risk?

2010-04-09T09:18:00.000+02:00

From: The news

The Roads and Transportation Office has asked archdiocese in the central city of Lodz to remove ads informing about an exhibition of the holy icon of Black Madonna of Czestochowa in a local church - because they constitute a health and safety risk.

The road administration office claims that the banners and decorations are not fixed properly and when the wind blows they fall on passing by cars - which is not very conducive to safe driving.

Besides, the office stresses, the ads are, in effect, Catholic propaganda and the archdiocese did not get a permit to display them, nor have they paid for it.

The Roads and Transportation Office’s call to remove the adverts has been fiercely criticized by members of the Lodz Citizen Alliance, who say that even communist authorities would not dare to forbid the exposition of the holy icon.

The conservative Law and Justice city councilors also condemned the office’s decision and promised to reverse it.

After the city authority’s intervention, head of the Roads and Transportation Office Maciej Winsche apologized to the archdiocese for the “inappropriate form and content of the letter”.

Corruption in Poland’s armed forces

2010-04-08T09:17:00.000+02:00

From: The News

Nine people, including soldiers, reserve officers and civil workers in the Polish Armed Forces, have been charged for fixing tenders on military equipment.

The Central Anti-Corruption Bureau has revealed that the armed forces lost several million zloty as a result of corruption.

“The Military Prosecutor’s Office in the western city of Poznan, the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Military Gendarmerie opened an investigation on the case several months ago. They established that the suspects formed a kind of criminal group which aimed at cornering the military market in Poland,” says Jacek Dobrzynski from the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The suspects are accused of giving and taking bribes, fixing tenders, not meeting their obligations and exceeding their authority, revealing official secrets and belonging to a criminal group.

Perhaps an answer to the great question concerning Poland: Poles smoke and drink while pregnant

2010-04-07T20:40:00.000+02:00

From: The News

The Chief Sanitary Inspectorate has released alarming statistics that 14 percent of Polish women consume alcohol while pregnant and 38 percent smoke cigarettes.

The statistics are the result of a survey conducted by the Health Ministry and the Inspectorate in June 2009 in 382 clinics throughout Poland – about 3,300 women were polled.

“These statistics explain why there are so many babies lying in hospital incubators crying because they are addicted to alcohol or nicotine,” says Professor Anna Dobrzanska, one of the doctors who worked on the survey.

Despite such health risks, 11 percent of Polish women claim to smoke regularly while pregnant, 38 percent admit to having smoked cigarettes on occasion and 14 percent say that they have consumed alcohol while pregnant. One in one hundred women surveyed admitted to having taken narcotics while pregnant as well.

Health Minister Ewa Kopacz says that mothers must be provided with clear information about how their actions while pregnant affect their unborn child – both how it affects the baby’s weight, immune system, height and general health after birth.

“I am embarrassed to admit that I too am a female smoker – I was when I was pregnant and I smoked when I breast-fed,” admits Kopacz.

Hotline for black students in Poland

2010-04-06T20:40:00.000+02:00

From: The News

Another racist attack on a black student in Warsaw has spurred his university into action.

Collegium Civitas, which has about 50 African students, joined hands with the Different Africa Foundation to create a support line for black students with funds obtained from the EU and the labor ministry.

Africans in Warsaw, as well as other cities, say they hear racist insults on a daily basis and attacks on them are not isolated incidents.

When in trouble, they can now phone the hotline, which is operated in three languages: English, French and Portuguese by Africans who have lived in Warsaw for years, know the city and its people.

They will offer help not only in crisis situations, but are also ready to give advice on where to buy African food in Warsaw or where to go. A website was also created with Collegium Civitas and Warsaw University students as moderators to enable Africans and Poles to exchange views.

Last May, Collegium Civitas appealed to the Warsaw city mayor to launch an anti-racist campaign and asked the municipal police department to start an English language help line for African students.

Yet another 64 caught in child porn sting

2010-04-05T20:39:00.000+02:00

From: The News

Sixty-four people from around Poland have been detained on charges related to child pornography, under sting operation ‘Charly,’ a cooperation between Polish Luxembourg police.

“The investigation opened when police from Luxembourg discovered a server containing thousands of pornographic photographs of children from which dozens of Polish people were downloading photos,” stated Agnieszka Hamelusz, from the press office at the National Police Headquarters.

The Luxembourg police provided their Polish counterparts with IP addresses, allowing local police to indentify the locations of the computers containing pornographic material.

During the sting operation, which took place simultaneously in 14 provinces around Poland, 56 computers, 1600 CDs and DVDs and 21 hard drives were seized.

This is the third such crack down on child pornography in Poland already this year. In February, police arrested 12 people for distribution of underage porn in cooperation with German police. In January, 120 people were detained on similar charges.

Between 2007-2009, Polish police have detained over 1,000 people suspected to being involved in the distribution of child pornography, 299 of those detained were arrested and charged.

'Sexist' Polish mammogram campaign 'encourages molestation'

2010-04-04T06:49:00.000+02:00

From: Telegraph

The Opole cancer hospital sent letters in recent months to company directors in south-western Poland asking them to encourage female employees to have breast cancer checks.

The letters contained the campaign slogan: "I check the breasts of my employees myself."

Joanna Piotrowska, of the feminist Feminoteka group, said the slogan was sexist and that it encouraged molestation and treating employees like property.

Krystyna Raczynska, who ran the hospital campaign, said the hospital had tried to use humour in order to draw attention to the issue. She said no offence was intended.

5 million cigarettes stolen from truck in Germany

2010-04-03T06:49:00.000+02:00

From: AP

Thieves have stolen more than 5 million cigarettes from a truck at a highway rest area in western Germany as its driver slept in the cab.

Police said Tuesday that the thieves spirited away the cigarettes at some point during the night — emptying about half of the vehicle's trailer. They believe the booty was loaded onto other vehicles and driven away.

The 35-year-old Polish driver had parked his vehicle and was asleep in the cab at a rest area on the A2 highway near Dortmund. Police said the stolen cigarettes likely were worth more than euro1 million ($1.35 million).

Trainer denies shots contained EPO

2010-04-02T06:48:00.001+02:00

From: ESPN

Kornelia Marek

A trainer for the Polish cross-country skier who tested positive for EPO at the Vancouver Olympics has acknowleged giving her injections but denies they contained banned substances.

Vitali Trypolski said Tuesday from his home in Kiev, Ukraine, that the injections he gave to Kornelia Marek contained no EPO. He said he did not know how the banned blood-boosting hormone got into her system and refused to say what the injections were.

Poland's Ski Association has suspended Marek and fired Trypolski. A commission is to question Marek and Trypolski about the case.

Marek tested positive after helping Poland finish sixth in the women's 20K relay.

The IOC is also investigating. Marek could be disqualified retroactively and stripped of her results.

Poland ceases to exist; Sells name to corporate sponsor

2010-04-01T06:04:00.002+02:00

(Warsaw, IKEA) The country formerly known as Poland has sold its naming rights to corporate giant IKEA. The deal was struck in a meeting of the IKEA board of directors and ministers of the previously Polish state.

“The thing is,” Donald Tusk, prime minister of the used to be ethnically named territory, “In the current business climate, decisions need to be made which allow for the balancing of budgets and for accommodations to be made. Corporations have been buying the naming rights to sport stadiums for years and this doesn’t stop anyone from going to them, so we say said, hey, we have got to get in on this scam.”

The new official name of the territory will be either Ikea-vania, the Ikea-lands or simply IKEA.

Lech Kaczynski, president of the country which might have been Poland, added in that the choice was also influenced by his own Ikea experiences. “I like the meatballs at the food courts.”

Dag Sorenstam, spokesman for Ingvar Kamprad, the original fonder of the global IKEA chain explained to reporters, “A good corporation needs to be aware of the trends of the market place. We saw a potentially undeveloped market and exploited the situation, which is what we do. People like to come to Ilea stores. We have everything you want in an IKEA store.”

The name change officially begins next Tuesday with the unveiling of the new blue and yellow IKEA flag, which is to be flown over all public meetings, on holidays and over government buildings. The right facing, crowned bird symbol of Poland is also to be replaced with a depiction of an end table.

“It was logical to understand,” Continued Sorenstam, “They had employee problems and with corruption and with people running away. They had great budget issues and a bad reputation. We felt we could turn things around for them image wise and that this would help to rebuild how they are seen in the world. I mean, say a man tells his wife: I am going to Poland on business. Is she going to believe him? Hell no! He might as well say: Oh, I am going to drink beer and chase prostitutes, because that is what she would be thinking. IKEA is a cleaner, safer place. People all over the world like coming to us. And the people of, you know, that country, they wanted a piece of the action and to try and make an image someone might believe in for a change.”

The cost of the 10 year naming rights contract included PLN 20 million (5.18m Euro, $7 million USD) in cash, and the use of an IKEA discount card for the people of the president’s office and members of the Ikea-nise Selm.

This is the second time the name Poland has disappeared from the map. From 1795 to 1918, the three partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, and 1795) culminated in Poland's being erased from the map of Europe and its territories being divided between Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

“Come on,” Added, Kaczynski, “IKEA’s cool. And it’s not like we’ve never done it before…”

Government lawyers nearly unbeatable

2010-03-31T06:47:00.000+02:00

From: WBJ

The average Polish citizen or firm does not stand a chance when taking the Polish government to court, reports Puls Biznesu.

In 2009, the Treasure won proceedings worth zl.1.7 billion.

It only had to pay zl.80 million in damages. Those seeking compensation from the government are having a tough time beating its lawyers.

There was almost a precedent-setting case last week, where MCI Management was awarded zl.38.5 million for the demise of its JTT Computer, which was fueled by bad moves from the Treasury.

That could have been a break, but the judgment was ruled invalid.

Last year, there were 618 lawsuits against the Treasury, of which the Attorney General's office won 541, or 86.5 percent.

Auschwitz sign thieves convicted

2010-03-30T16:55:00.000+02:00

From: aljazeera.net

The men were sentenced to terms between 18 to 30 months in prison

Three men have been jailed for stealing the 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign from the entrance to the Auscwitz concentration camp last year.

The men were sentenced by a Polish court to terms of between 18 to 30 months on Thursday.

The sign, which reads "Work Sets You Free", was stolen and cut into pieces last December.

Officials described the men as "petty thieves" who intended to sell the sign to an undisclosed buyer.

The court identified them only as Radoslaw M, Lukasz M, and Pawel S, in keeping with Polish privacy laws.

Television footage from the court showed each man in turn expressing regret and acknowledging that stealing the sign was not a good idea.

The theft occurred in the night between December 17 and December 18, and the thieves left traces in the snow and then cut the sign into three pieces to make it easier to transport.

They also left behind the last letter "i" in the snow.

Acting on tips, police tracked down the sign in a snow-covered forest near the thieves' home on the other side of Poland, less than three days after it was stolen.

Suspect extradition

A Swedish man named Anders Hogstrom, is also a suspect and is detained in Sweden and due to be extradited to Poland. Two other Polish suspects remain imprisoned and under investigation.

Media reports have suggested that a British collector of Nazi memorabilia commissioned the theft, but police prosecutors have not confirmed that.

The slogan on the Auschwitz sign has come to be a potent symbol of Nazi Germany's atrocities during World War II and the Holocaust.

Between 1940 and 1945 more than one million people were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau or died of starvation or disease while forced to perform hard physical labour at the camp.

Police surprised by snake in bra

2010-03-29T16:55:00.000+02:00

From: fox8live

Police arresting a suspected drug dealer in Poland got a shock when a snake suddenly appeared out of her bra.

The four-foot long python had reportedly been curled up around the breasts of the suspect.

The woman was arrested over bags of amphetamines that police found in her apartment.

Officers admit they hadn't searched the woman immediately after her arrest because they didn't want to breach her human rights and that "no one thought to look inside her blouse."

Polish cops arrest Lodz file sharer

2010-03-28T16:54:00.000+02:00

From: p2pnet

Polish police, working for ZPAV, “observed increased activity by a user of a Polish-based cyberlocker” in Lodz, says Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s IFPI.

Hmmmm. Wonder who enlightened them?

ZPAV (Zwiazek Producentow Audio-Video) is a kind of Polish BREIN comprising the local arm of the IFPI and FOTA (equivalent to the MPAA in Poland).

The economic crime department of the regional police headquarters in Lodz “detained the suspect as he was uploading a new film”, says the IFPI, stating the alleged file sharer has now been “charged with illegally distributing music and film online”.

Using the tired, and hoary, entertainment cartel formula that files shared equal sales lost, and making statements based on unsupported guesswork, “It is estimated that the uploaded files were downloaded by over 400,000 internet users and the initial losses incurred by the music and film industries are estimated to be 7 million PLN (€ 1.8 m)”, says the IFPI.

The tame and lame mainstream media parrot every word from the cartels just as though it’s reliable information from credible sources.

Monitoring the hooligans

2010-03-27T09:00:00.000+01:00

From: NPE

A 22-year-old man, Lukasz S., was arrested at 3am this Thursday morning after going on a mini-rampage through the centre of Warsaw. An alert CCTV operator spotted the young man walking along ul. Grojecka in the company of a female, when the man began attacking a parked car for no apparent reason.

The camera operator called police and tracked the young man on cameras, recording as he attacked a further two vehicles. Police then arrived at the scene and arrested the startled young man as he waited at a bus stop. A breathalyser showed he had 0.25% alcohol in his bloodstream.

He succeeded in smashing the rear windscreen of a Skoda and the back door on a Mercedes. The owners of the vehicles have assessed the damage at PLN 1400.

Where’s my crane?

2010-03-26T09:00:00.000+01:00

From: NPE

Warsaw police received a report this Monday morning that a 24 tonne crane had been stolen from a site on the Trasa N-S over the weekend. “It was there on the Saturday, then we came in on Monday and it was gone,” exclaimed the crane’s owner Ryszard Jankowski of J-R construction.

The million zloty, 10 metre long, bright yellow Liebherr crane disappeared from a secure parking area, but it seems nobody noticed it leaving, and the CCTV system wasn’t recording at the time.

Police recovered the vehicle this Wednesday on the outskirts of the capital but have no idea as yet who might have taken it. “Our enquiries are continuing,” an officer said.

Marek fails second dope test

2010-03-25T08:59:00.000+01:00

From: The News

The Polish Olympic Committee has announced that Poland’s Olympic cross country skier Kornelia Marek’s second “B” sample has proved positive.

The test was carried out during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver after the 4x5 km relay race in which the Polish team took sixth place. Her “A” sample proved positive and was announced as such last Wednesday. March 12, after which the second test was performed. The "B" sample was found to contain EPO, a synthetic hormone.

Marek has professed her innocence throughout the week. “I have never taken any banned substances," she told TVP television.

If found guilty of doping the International Olympic Committee will annul all results which the 24 year-old Marek achieved, including records and the team performance.

The skier will also be banned from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

The failed dope tests have cast a shadow over Poland‘s performance at the Winter Olympics this year, which was their best in the history of the completion, bringing home six medals.

Post #1,250 -Suspected hit-and-run driver arrested in Poland after human nose found stuck to car

2010-03-24T03:35:00.001+01:00

From: AFP

Polish police have arrested a 29-year-old woman they suspect is responsible for a hit-and-run fatality after a mechanic found part of a human body part jammed in the under carriage of her car, Warsaw police said Wednesday.

"Many traces, including human tissue, were found in the under carriage of the BMW," a police statement said.

A source close to the investigation told AFP a mechanic had found the nose of the victim jammed in the frame of the woman’s car.

Police said a 28-year-old man fell victim to a hit-and-run by the woman Monday night on a small road in the Warsaw area. The man died after she fled without offering him any assistance.

She told mechanics at the garage where she took her car for repairs that she had hit a deer.

The garage notified police when a mechanic making repairs on the car found the human body part jammed in its under carriage.

Anti-Semitic slogans paint at concentration camp memorial monuments near Krakow

2010-03-23T03:34:00.000+01:00

From: EJP

Anti-Semitic slogans on a memorial monument at the former Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp.

Anti-Semitic graffiti were sprayed Saturday on monuments in the Plaszow concentration camp memorial, near the city of Krakow, in southern Poland.

Words including "Jude Raus" — German for "Jew Out" — and "Hitler Good!" in English, were found in red paint on a large monument at the former camp. A smaller memorial plaque was also painted with a swastika and "Jude Raus."

It happened on the eve of a march commemorating the 67th anniversary of the liquidation of the Krakow's Jewish ghetto in World War II.

According to the Polish press agency PAP, the police have launched an investigation.

On March 13, 1945 a German SS operation targeted the Krakow’s Jewish quarter. About 8,000 people were transferred to the Krakow labour camp and some 2,000 killed on the streets or taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

The Plaszow camp featured in Steven Spielberg's 1993 Oscar-winning film "Schindler's List," which chronicled efforts by German industrialist Oskar Schindler to save Jews by having them work in his Krakow factory.

Polish Football clubs forced to cut lucrative ties to online gambling firms

2010-03-22T03:33:00.000+01:00

From: Recent Poker

The Polish Football Federation has been forced to suspend its sponsorship agreement with Swedish online sports-betting company Unibet, in order to fall into line with the Eastern European country's new and draconian online gambling laws, which came into effect on January 1st 2010.

Reporting on the move, Betfair's initiative for free movement of goods and services in the EU, Right2Bet, says that Unibet, which was the official sponsor of the Polish second division, can no longer have its branding placed in stadiums and on TV. The partnership has therefore been suspended and the much needed money which was supposed to go to struggling Polish league clubs has been withdrawn.

Poles have banned all forms of gambling outside of the land-based casinos, and advertising of gambling companies has also been blocked.

"The development will come as a hammer blow to the league, its clubs and their supporters, who are now being robbed of the chance to earn the type of money needed if Polish football is to progress and regain a sure footing in the global game," the Right2Bet blog laments.

"Polish football, in terms of infrastructure and quality is in the pits, and the ridiculously restrictive legislation now in place is having a major impact on everyone connected with the sport.

"Amazingly, this new legislation only came about as a result of the government trying to pass the buck, after members of the Cabinet were charged with corruption. The disgraced politicians were found to be opposing higher taxes on gambling institutions based on their ties with them, and rather than blame the individuals responsible, the government looked to appease the public by blaming gambling itself, and the new bill was proposed and passed at breakneck speed."

The European Commission has already voiced its displeasure with certain aspects of the new bill and has asked Poland for an explanation.

Biker killed by Polish driver after car pulled across road

2010-03-21T06:27:00.000+01:00

From: Droitwich Advertiser

A motorcyclist died after a man at the wheel of a left-hand drive car turned across the road in front of him to go and buy bottled gas.

Robert Newland, a 45-year-old beer sales agent from Feckenham, was riding his 900cc Yahama around the 60mph limit on the B4090 Droitwich to Hanbury road.

But Piotr Kopa, a Polish land worker, failed to observe him approaching and turned his Audi right across the carriageway at the entrance to a farm supplies shop, said Alex Warren, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court.

Mr Newland was thrown off his motorbike and suffered multiple injuries. He died at the scene.

Kopa, aged 30, formerly of Cladswell Lane, Alcester, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving when he appeared in court.

Judge Toby Hooper QC accepted that the crash was caused by “momentary inattention”.

The victim had overtaken two cars before the accident, but there was no criticism of his riding.

It was a “truly tragic” case, the judge added, because Mr Newland’s father had died seven weeks before the collision on October 10, 2008.

His mother told police that her son’s death had left a gap in her life that could never be filled.

Kopa was given a six-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for 12 months.

Mr Newland had been to a bank in Droitwich Spa and was travelling towards Hanbury when he was killed, said Mr Warren.

Kopa had 320 metres visibility of the road ahead, but failed to see the motorcycle until the last minute.

Shawn Williams, defending, said Kopa had sought psychiatric help for depression after the crash and was still suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.

The accident caused a relationship to founder and he was filled with remorse.

Kopa, who had no previous convictions, stayed at the accident scene and offered assistance.

He was now of no fixed address, but hoped to live with friends in Kent before returning to Poland.

Poland: Sex, drugs and scandal

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday told a commission investigating a recent gambling lobby scandal that he had "limited trust" in the former head of the country's anti-corruption bureau and that the bureau was politically motivated. Poland's Central Anti-Corruption Bureau was investigating the alleged lobbying in an operation code-named Blackjack.

Tusk later dismissed Mariusz Kaminski, the head of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, amid charges the official overstepped his powers during an unrelated investigation in 2007.

At the commission Thursday, Tusk said the anti-corruption bureau seemed to carry out investigations for political reasons, or "for a spectacle, or to prove a certain hypothesis."

The parliamentary commission was established in November and includes seven members of parliament.

Tusk is facing allegations that members of his Civic Platform party lobbied on behalf of gambling companies in a scandal that has marred his party's image months before the fall elections. Last week, Tusk announced he would not seek the country's presidency and would instead focus on improving Poland's economic performance.

The gambling scandal saw four top politicians depart on October 7 amid reports that politicians lobbied to block provisions in a bill that would have raised taxes the gambling industry pays to the state.

Tusk accepted resignations in October from the justice minister, deputy economy minister and deputy prime minister in connection with the gambling scandal.

Tusk told the commission Thursday that during their meeting in August on the investigation of alleged lobbying, Kaminski spoke "not of crimes being committed, but of unfortunate events." Tusk said the politicians' behavior then raised suspicion, but were not illegal.

Poland’s Former Deputy PM Gets Prison Sentence in Sex Scandal