Man suspected of putting out contract on Polish justice minister: report

The Rzeczpospolita daily said it had accessed details of an investigation suggesting that the suspect, an alleged designer-drug dealer, attempted to hire a hit man to kill Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.

The dealer allegedly offered to pay PLN 100,000 (around EUR 23,000, USD 26,000) for the job, the Polish paper reported, citing findings by investigators in the western city of Wrocław.

The drug dealer wanted the hit man to kill the justice minister by either poisoning him or planting a bomb under his car or causing him to have a heart attack, for example, according to the Polish paper.

The daily said the drug dealer, a 28-year-old man identified only as Jan Krzysztof S., wanted the justice minister out of the way, viewing him as an "obstacle" to his illegal business.

The paper said police across Europe were looking for the suspect under an arrest warrant issued by a Polish court.

Poland’s government last summer approved tougher new rules to crack down on designer drugs.

Rzeczpospolita observed that a plan to assassinate a government minister was unprecedented in Poland.

The newspaper noted that mobsters in the past have vowed to take revenge on officials including former justice minister Barbara Piwnik, but it said that was in connection with a case she was working on as a judge—still before she was given a government role.

The paper also said that Wojciech Kwaśniak, a former deputy head of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), narrowly escaped with his life after he was attacked by a hired thug five years ago.

(gs/pk)

Source: Rzeczpospolita