POLAND:In a blow to President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother, ex-prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland's parliament voted yesterday to investigate whether the latter's recently ousted government used the secret services to attack political opponents.
The assembly voted by 265 to 157 to establish a commission to look into the allegations, which have been made by many of the powerful enemies that the Kaczynskis created during their 16-month double act at the summit of Polish power.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his Law and Justice party were ousted by Donald Tusk's Civic Platform party in an election last October, amid anger and distaste at the twins' abrasive and often confrontational style of rule.
The twins tried and failed to pass a law that would have threatened hundreds of thousands of Poles with the sack unless they could prove that they had not collaborated with the communist-era security services, and they later established an anti-corruption bureau that was accused of trying to dig up dirt on the Kaczynskis' critics and enemies.
High-profile "sting" operations by the bureau included one which led to former agriculture minister and Self Defence party leader Andrzej Lepper being fired from government, though he proclaimed his innocence and has not been charged.
When Mr Lepper found out the security services were eavesdropping on him as part of the investigation, Jaroslaw Kaczynski sacked long-time ally and interior minister Janusz Kaczmarek.
"Today the prosecutors and the special services are a tool used to gain power," Mr Kaczmarek said at the time. "We live in a totalitarian state."
Another controversial operation saw anti-corruption agents raid the home of left-wing politician Barbara Blida, who shot herself dead in her bathroom while her house was being searched.
The Law and Justice party insists that the operation against Ms Blida and the work of the anti-corruption agency were not politically motivated, and intends to challenge the creation of the new investigative commission in the constitutional court.
Mr Tusk has made clear that he wants to review the work of the anti-corruption agency and reform and depoliticise the security services.
"I would not want my own special services which I could use to reach my political goals," he said. "I would rather these services operated quietly yet effectively for the benefit of the state."
