Orlengate ( pl, Afera Orlenu) was one of the biggest political affairs in modern

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

history. Disclosed in 2004, the scandal began with the arrest, on 7 February 2002, by the

Urząd Ochrony Państwa The Office of State Protection (Polish: ''Urząd Ochrony Państwa'' (, UOP)Andrzej Modrzejewski, the CEO of

PKN Orlen Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen Spółka Akcyjna (PKN Orlen S.A.), commonly known as Orlen, is a Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer. The corporation is a significant European publicly traded firm with major operations in Poland, Czech Republic, ...

. In 2004 the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament) initiated the PKN Orlen investigation commission to investigate the scandal. Modrzejewski had been arrested on the order of the attorney general's office. The arrest was a source of controversy from the outset, carried out on the eve of a meeting of the board of directors. Two hours before the meeting Modrzejewki was released and the board of directors removed him from his position. Wiesław Kaczmarek (Treasury Minister until January 6, 2003) stated in an interview for

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...

published on 2 April 2004 that the real purpose of the arrest was to provoke Modrzejewki's dismissal and, as a consequence, not allow signing of a contract for oil supplies worth $14 billion. According to this interview the decision of the arrest was taken during an unofficial meeting in the Prime Minister's cabinet with

Leszek Miller Leszek Cezary Miller (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 July 1946) is a Polish politician. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since July 2019. From 1989 to 1990 was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' P ...

, Barbara Piwnik (

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in ...

) and

Zbigniew Siemiątkowski Zbigniew Siemiątkowski (born 8 October 1957 in Ciechanów, Poland) is a Polish politician and political scientist. He was Minister of Internal Affairs, 1996–97, and head of the Intelligence Agency (''Agencja Wywiadu'', or ''AW''), 2002 – ...

, the Chief of UOP. Wiesław Kaczmarek, who was also one of the participants, disclosed the purpose of the meeting to avoid possible future accusations of a misconduct during his office of Treasury Minister.

PKN Orlen investigation commission

After the publication of the article the

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popu ...

attorney's office began their investigation into the case. The Sejm's official commission for special services, also known as PKN Orlen investigation commission, started an independent investigation on 2 July 2004 and found that the UOP put pressure on the attorney's office. The

Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego The Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego (ABW), officially the Internal Security Agency (ISA) in English, is Poland's domestic counter-intelligence agency. The ABW is responsible for analyzing, reporting and preventing threats to Poland's inter ...

(State Security Agency) denied it. In April 2004 the commission for special services proposed a special investigative commission. This decision was taken by the Sejm on 6 July 2004. The commission discovered new threads in the case, and on 21 October 2004 it published notes from the

Intelligence Agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of informati ...

describing a meeting between

Jan Kulczyk Jan Jerzy Kulczyk (24 June 1950 – 29 July 2015) was a Polish billionaire businessman. He was the founder and owner of Kulczyk Holding (headquartered in Warsaw) and an international investment house Kulczyk Investments (former name: Kulczyk Inve ...

and Władimir Ałganow in July 2003. Jan Kulczyk was explaining the importance of his contacts with

Aleksander Kwaśniewski Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule, he was active in the Socialist Union of Poli ...

who could enable a privatisation of Rafineria Gdańska on advantageous conditions for Russians. The commission did not, however, reach a conclusion. According to public opinion, it was considered a political tool of the rightist opposition parties (

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...

Civic Platform Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk. It w ...

League of Polish Families The League of Polish Families (Polish: ''Liga Polskich Rodzin'', LPR) is a conservative political party in Poland, with many far-right elements in the past. The party's original ideology was that of the National Democracy movement which was head ...

) to destroy the presidential aspirations of

Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (, born 13 September 1950) is a Polish left-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland for a year from 7 February 1996 to 31 October 1997, after being defeated in the Parliamentary elections by the Solidarit ...

Commission members

Józef Gruszka Józef Zbigniew Gruszka (16 March 1947 – 7 June 2020) was a Polish politician, Member of Parliament, representing Polish People's Party. Gruszka was born in Kwiatków. He was a graduate of the State Agricultural School (''Państwowe Technikum R ...

Polish Peasant Party The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although i ...

(PSL) - chairman *

Roman Giertych Roman Jacek Giertych (; born 27 February 1971 in Śrem, Poland) is a Polish politician and lawyer; he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education until August 2007. He was a member of the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament) f ...

(LPR) - vice-chairman *

Zbigniew Wassermann Zbigniew Franciszek Wassermann (; 17 September 1949 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish politician. He was an MP representing Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość). Wassermann was born in Kraków. He was a graduate in law from Jagiellonian ...

(PiS) - vice-chairman *

Andrzej Aumiller Andrzej Kordian Aumiller (born 25 June 1947, Trzcianka) is a Polish politician, Minister of Construction and Member of Parliament representing Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (Samoobrona, SRP). He is a graduate in gardening from the Agri ...

Labor Union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

(UP) - vice-chairman *

Bogdan Bujak Bogdan or Bohdan (Cyrillic: Богдан) is a Slavic masculine name that appears in all Slavic countries as well as Romania and Moldova. It is derived from the Slavic words ''Bog/Boh'' (Cyrillic: Бог), meaning " god", and ''dan'' (Cyrillic: ...

Democratic Left Alliance The Democratic Left Alliance () was a social democracy, social-democratic list of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. It was formed in 9 July 1991 as an electoral alliance of centre-left politics, centre-left parties, and bec ...

(SLD) - member * Andrzej Rożański,

(SLD) - member * Andrzej Grzesik,

Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Samoobrona Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej, SRP) is a nationalist, populist, and agrarian political party and trade union in Poland. Its platform combines left-wing populist economic policies with religious c ...

(SRP) - member *

Andrzej Celiński Andrzej Bohdan Celiński (; born 26 February 1950 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician. Until 1989 activist of the democratic opposition in Poland. Former Member of Senate and Sejm. Minister of Culture in the government of Prime Minister Leszek Mi ...

Social Democracy of Poland The Social Democracy of Poland ( pl, Socjaldemokracja Polska, SDPL) is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Foundation The party was founded in April 2004 as a splinter group from the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). The ...

(SDPL) - member * Konstanty Miodowicz,

(PO) - member * Zbigniew Witaszek, Federated Parliamentary Club (FKP) - member *

Antoni Macierewicz Antoni Macierewicz (; born 3 August 1948) is a Polish politician and the former Minister of National Defence. He previously served as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, and Minister of State in ...

, Catholic-National Movement (RKN) - member {{Authority control Political scandals in Poland History of Poland (1989–present) 2002 in Poland Corruption in Poland