Poland's ruling coalition wants the central bank chief tried in court over hurting state interests

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Lawmakers with Poland’s ruling pro-European Union coalition launched a rare process Tuesday to bring the central bank chief before a special court on allegations of acting against the country's financial interests. The result could ban him from political life.

Critics of the effort suggested that the ruling coalition was going too far in its attempts to reverse the actions of Poland's previous right-wing government, which were widely seen as undemocratic, and hold those responsible to account.

The coalition, which came to power in December and is led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, filed the motion at the parliament office to bring National Bank of Poland chief Adam Glapiński before the State Tribunal, which is tasked with trying top state officials. The lengthy procedure could strip Glapiński of his post and get him banned from all state positions.

One of the motion's authors, Tomasz Trela, called Glapiński the “worst head of the National Bank of Poland since 1989,” when Poland shed communist rule. Trela alleged that Glapiński turned the bank into a political and campaigning tool of the previous government.

A bank board member, Pawel Szalamacha, called the motion an “attempt at breaking the independence of the central bank” and said it would lead to the “fracturing of the foundations of the Polish state and of its economy.”

Glapiński was appointed in 2016 by the then-ruling conservative Law and Justice party and is currently in his second term. The allegations against him include unlawful funding of the state deficit from state-issued securities, weakening the national currency ahead of key elections, acting in the interest of Law and Justice and approving hefty bonuses for himself.

In September, two months before parliamentary elections, the bank made a deep cut to interest rates, easing the burden of loan and mortgage holders, even though inflation was at 10% after having reached 18% earlier in the year, and the currency, the zloty, weakened. The cut was seen as intended to earn voter support for the populist Law and Justice.

At the time, Glapiński argued the cut was justified based on the bank's expectation that inflation would fall over the coming months — a predication that has played out, with inflation down to 2.8% in February.

A lawmaker with the far-right Confederation party that is not part of the ruling coalition, Przemyslaw Wipler, said he would not support putting Glapiński before the tribunal because “many heads of central banks have made mistakes, sometimes reprehensible.”

“We are critical of him, but are we critical enough to put him before the State Tribunal?” Wipler asked.

The motion filed by 191 coalition lawmakers will spur a special parliamentary committee investigation of the allegations. If they are substantiated, parliamentarians must vote on trying Glapiński before the tribunal.

Observers say the procedure can take up to a year.

Four cases have been heard before the tribunal since it was established in 1921. Two of the defendants were banned from political life.

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