Two Polish diplomats have said that the Consulate in Mumbai was pressured by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue visas to Indians despite them not fulfilling all the necessary requirements.
The diplomats’ claims were made amidst an ongoing investigation into the visa scandal, which was brought to light last year, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Sharing information on the matter for the parliamentary commission, the two diplomats, the former Polish consul in Mumbai, Damian Irzyk and his deputy, Mateusz Reszczyk, said that they were pressured to issue visas to a large number of Indians.
According to them, the Indian citizens claimed that they were in the film industry and needed a visa for work-related purposes.
However, concerns were raised as diplomats said they did not appear to have any industry experience, Notes from Poland explains.
The visa scandal took place during the time that the Law and Justice party was ruling.
Back when the scandal was unveiled, the Polish authorities found out that the Ministry had been issuing work visas in exchange for money, a practice that undermines the integrity of the visa system and potentially compromises national security.
The former deputy foreign minister of Poland, Piotr Wawrzyk, was arrested in January of this year for involvement in the visa scandal.
While Wawrzyk has not since made an official statement on the matter, an associate of his confessed in the investigation. The associate said they took bribes to help foreigners obtain visas. On the other hand, Wawrzyk did not testify on the matter.
Mumbai Consulate Was Pressured to Issue Multiple-Entry Schengen Visas
The former Polish consul in Mumbai, Damian Irzyk and his deputy, Mateusz Reszczyk, said in their testimony that in November 2022, the consulate was pressured to issue Schengen visas to a total of 35 citizens of India.
They noted that the request was labelled as an “urgent request” from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the beneficiaries were scheduled to enter Poland in December.
The same revealed that in addition to being required to issue visas to this group of Indian citizens, they were also told to grant multiple-entry visas.
The diplomats claimed that in December 2022, they were also required to grant visas to another 83 Indians.
All of the Indians declared that they were entering Poland for the purpose of “making movies”.
The diplomats said that many of these Indians reached the US and the same stressed that they had informed an American officer on the matter.
Poland Suspends Work Visa Programme
Following claims that Poland had issued around 250,000 work visas in exchange for money, the authorities decided to tighten some of the rules.
The aim of the programme was to grant work visas to highly qualified workers, especially IT specialists and attract them to the country.
However, due to the irregularities, the Polish authorities decided to suspend the programme until further notification.
In the meantime, the country will be working on targeting irregularities and finding solutions that will help with the verification of foreign workers benefiting from the programme.
