Paweł Bartłomiej Piskorski (born 25 February 1968 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

) is a former Polish politician. He was Mayor of Warsaw from 30 March 1999 to 14 January 2002. In 1997 he was elected to the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

from the Freedom Union electoral list, and in 2001, after participating in a secession from that party, he successfully ran under the

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 ...

banner. In 2004 he was the Secretary General of Civic Platform. He has been elected Member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

in 2004. On 26 April 2006 he was excluded from the Civic Platform. Since February 2009 he has been the chairman of the Democratic Party.

Alleged corruption

In April 2006 Polish newspaper "Dziennik" informed about the purchase in 2005 by Pawel Piskorski and his wife of more than 320 hectares of land for afforestation. The total cost of the purchase amounted to 1.25 million zł. According to the newspaper’s journalist, this amount exceeded the value of assets declared by the MEP in a financial statement for that year. Pawel Piskorski explained that the money came from sale of property, credit, savings and current income by him and his wife. That declaration was not officially challenged by any public authority. Nevertheless, Piskorski's reputation has been irrecoverably damaged. The day after the publication the national board of the

(Platforma Obywatelska) decided to exclude him from the party, which was followed on 17 May by the removal of his ten collaborators, among others, Piotr Fogler. The official reason stated was damage to Civic Platform’s image. In January 2009 Paweł Piskorski joined the Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Demokratyczne), thus becoming the only MEP of the party, as well as declaring his intention to run for the position of chairman. This position was obtained at an extraordinary Democratic Party congress, held on 21 February that year. However, his nomination was followed by the publication of his statements given to the National Revenue Service agency to explain sources of his income. He tried to explain that he earned money by persistent winnings at the casino and by art trading. Public opinion took these clarifications with disbelief, which torpedoed the election campaign of the Democratic Party. In January 2010, a public prosecutor charged him with the use of a forged document (contract with an antique dealer) in tax proceedings. Pawel Piskorski pleaded not guilty to committing this act. Piskorski is listed in the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

as a beneficiary or shareholder in an

offshore company The term "offshore company" or “offshore corporation” is used in at least two distinct and different ways. An offshore company may be a reference to: * a company, group or sometimes a division thereof, which engages in offshoring business pr ...

References

External links

official website
(in Polish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Piskorski, Pawel 1968 births Living people Politicians from Warsaw Mayors of Warsaw Liberal Democratic Congress politicians Freedom Union (Poland) politicians Civic Platform politicians Alliance of Democrats (Poland) politicians Members of the Polish Sejm 1991–1993 Members of the Polish Sejm 1997–2001 Members of the Polish Sejm 2001–2005 Civic Platform MEPs MEPs for Poland 2004–2009 Political corruption Corruption in Poland People named in the Panama Papers