Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland?

This is spot on really. This is a "between a rock and a hard place" situation.

There is the possibility of reporting it to the ABW, who tend to take interest in corruption cases - but it really depends on the amounts involved. Sadly, EU projects do tend to attract a ridiculous amount of corruption - I know of one case where someone got 90zl / hour to deliver language classes to villages. He paid teachers (allegedly native speakers, but in reality Poles) 25zl an hour and made them sign documents saying they got 90zl gross. He paid the tax due on 90zl, paid them 25zl gross and kept the difference.

Do you know if there's politics involved? Depending on the connections, it might be wise to wait until October and then report it then.

Merged: Corruption in every day life in Poland

We have many good friends in Poland. Today, one lady was telling us that it is customary that when the postman delivers her pension then he gets a tip, in fact, it's expected. She said something along the lines of if she gets 105PLN then he gets the scraps i.e. 5 PLN (as an example). So I'm not sure if that means she tips him or he just takes it himself (which I'd find hard to believe).

She also said that she recently bought a brand new cooker but within a few days some of the burners stopped working. She reported the fault and an engineer was called out but he insisted on charging her 100PLN when he arrived claiming that he doesn't work for the store so therefore she had to pay him for his time. Are consumer laws weak in Poland or is there still a strong tendency to give back handers out ?

The postman thing is a custom, a kind of tip that many people do... but of course it's not a must... not sure about the other case thought...

The first example is more like giving a tip, so it's not really corruption. The second example - she probably should have called the manufacturer (or the store first) to find a contractor working on repairing under warranty. Not corruption either, unless I'm missing something ;)

I can never understand why some people think it is "customary" to tip. If someone delivers a service over and above what is expected then yes but a postman ? Would you tip a bus driver ?

The problem is that many Poles try to corrupt / give bribes to others in the hopes it will speed up the process / make it successful etc. Then same Poles complain there's a bribery culture in Poland. The fact is, it's up to Poles to uproot this culture from the society or else nothing will change. Obviously, it's illegal to take bribes by public workers, but it's a different story for private workers/businesses.

"I can never understand why some people think it is "customary" to tip. If someone delivers a service over and above what is expected then yes but a postman ?"

Don't ask me, I don't understand it either :))) Mostly older people do it, those who get their pensions delivered in cash...

Remember that in the old days, it was often the good guys who took bribes. Others were not so amenable.


Not everyone does it however in a culture where Poczta Polska is staffed by thieves, tipping is a good way to encourage them not to rob you. It should be banned and punishable.


I always think it's odd that people don't always say thank you to drivers when getting off the bus. I suppose it depends what you're used to.


It isn't so much a 'think' thing - in some areas it's customary and in some it isn't. Remember, in areas where there is tipping, wages often reflect this.

Earlier in the 1990 they pretend that don't have coins and gave only banknotes. But money wasn't as strong as today. Today this is not acceptable. No one is going to agree that unless really want to give a tip out of habit. I remember a recent case in Olsztyn when postman was seriously beaten because he was late with pension.


She called wrong person. Today consumers tear out your guts. They have boring, miserable lives and fight in the court makes them lively.

Merged: CBA raids Kulczyk and Ciech offices suspecetd of gross corruption

Today agents of the CBA (Polish law enforcement's anti-corruption arm) raided the offices of Kulczyk Holding and Ciech on suspicion of corruption. Irregularities typical of the scam-friendly PO era were uncovered during the dodgy privatisation of Ciech. Investigative reporters were largely instrumental in revealing the malfeasance. Ministerial audits to date have shown highly irregular practices by the PO scamsters although in most cases closing balance-sheets have yet to be drawn up.

xoverit.blogspot.com/2015/02/272-international-keyboard-layouts.html

Which mirrors the persecution and score settling they tried during their previous brief period in office.

And the score settling/corruption of PiS is having the effect of damaging the Polish economy



thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/247388,Moody%E2%80%99s-warns-foreign-investment-at-risk-amid-Polish-constitutional-crisis

Call it what you like, but the scam-friendly PO regime have left so much garbage, corruption, bungled legislation, fixed tenders, unfinished motorways and oldboy cronyism in their wake, that it'll take some time to clean up the mess...

Investigative reporter Cezary Gmyz meanwhile has found that the Janów row is part of a wider issue, a 200-strong internaitonal lobby upset that their planted, highly bankrolled yes-men have been sacked for incompetence. It seems Arab sheiks are interested in reactivating their erstwhile Arabian horse-breeding activities and loads of petro-dollars are criculating under the table. Shirley Watts, who pulled her remaining steeds today, appears to be part of the overall scheme.

Fits PiS perfecly. They even admit that they are corrupt.


An 'official' PiS mouthpiece.

If you say so, then I guess killing her horses was for the national good!

To be fair, if we're talking about horses that spend almost their whole lives in stables then they tend to be delicate and don't have the natural immunities of pasture based horses and they get colic (which can be deadly for horses) very easily. The occasional death of a high profile horse is not that suspicious but the recent series seems to point to either real incompetence on the part of management, sabotage or an insurance scam.

I'd want more info on the other deaths, any breeding program tends to have high mortality rates (something most people don't want to realize). So I'd need info on the ages and values of the horses to have an opinion.

The article linked to cannot be called journalism in any real sense of the word (maybe in PRL-inspired PiS world it is but not to anyone with any experience writing for newspapers (comme moi).

So, the two explanations are either that there's a shadowy global conspiracy against Poland or that the Party sacked respected and competent staff in order to replace them with people who admit that being round horses is something new for them. I wonder which of those explanations is verifiably correct.


If so, the lovers of PIS appear to be in on the scheme, given that they've just handed three highly-qualified and well respected staff, who used to work for the benefit of the Polish taxpayer, to said sheikhs.


Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to replace well respected experts with cretins who admit that being round horses is something new for them but who are loyal servants of the Party?

Wybiórcza -- official KOD/Soros mouthpiece and therefore unreliable.

Didn't we recently read something from one of the mods about not making hilarious mis-spellings?

Remember folks, when dealing with those East of the Oder (or South of the Rio Grande): GREASE MY PALMS!!! A black market leopard, no matter how Anglicized, never changes their spots:-)

Merged: Leftist ex-solidarity icon detained in corruption scandal

Józef Pinior, an iconic martial-law era underground Soldiarity activist, has been detained on suspicion of accepting 46,000 zł worth of bribes in exchange for political favours. He was taken into custody by the CBA along with nine other suspects. In yet another manifestation of "thieves' honour", the whole Michnikite-KOD-ite losers' camp have predictably thrown their full support behind the PO-linked Pinior who is known for his leftist sympathies.

Is he one of the Solidarnosc activists who were prosecuted by men who are now senior figures in the PiSlamic State?

He is a bloody disgrace and should be punished for his actions.

We all know you prefer the Sodomic State. Each to their own!

Care to remind us about the preference of The Dear Leader Chairman Kaczynski, or would you prefer to stick to the topic of this thread?

Merged:

Masa arrested again (for writing a book about Polish politicians and mafia connections or dirty money)

Anyone hear about this artest?

polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2018-05-18/masa-aresztowany-na-trzy-miesiace/

Apparently it came right after publishing of his co authored book (the other guy was also harassed if not arrested previously from the wuixk i fo I listened to during youtube interviews) "To Tylko Mafia" "This is only Mafia." He accussed even Tusk of taki g bribes and dirty money from marirott hotel 15th floor or something with most other politicians when the cbs (or whatever that fbi like group is called in Poland) was the real mafia and even gave the greenlight to pruszkow on hits.


wpolityce.pl/polityka/394564-szczegoly-sprawy-zatrzymania-masy-prokuratorzy-planuja-postawic-zarzuty-popelnienia-wielu-przestepstw-sprawdz

Now this is even more i teresting:

salon24.pl/u/wojciechsumlinski/861171,to-tylko-mafia-niewidzialny-rzad-5

The last article talks about a secret court, komorowski, Balcerowicz all having ties to Pruszkow.

Merged:

Polish Corruption

I'm only just getting a feel for how much corruption there has been in Poland since the Communists left power... Corruption goes hand in hand with Communism so it isn't even worth discussing, but it seems that FOZZ was the 'mother of all scandals' according to

wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/czym-byla-afera-fozz/w3t4nmw

It seems that some light is only just being shed on this scandal, but is anyone being held to account for the missing millions?

It goes 'hand-in-hand' with any less-developed society that has a bureaucratic system.

It doesn't have to be less-developed. Bureaucracy always spawns corruption - just look at he EU.

...and, immediately after that, look at the US where corruption has been elevated to high science. And legalized.
When I was kid, I was afraid to lift rocks and see all the disgusting glizdy. Now, that I am older, I have exactly the same feeling when reading about the American swamp.