Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in the firing line over accusations of bias and incompetence

17th July 2009

When the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau was formed back in 2005, its founders hailed it as the body that would rid Poland of the corruption scourge. But a few years down the line the agency stands accused of political bias and having little effect on the fight against corruption.


Press reports claimed that the bureau (CBA) has checked just 66 of the 300,000 property declarations from Poland’s army of civil servants, politicians and public officials, despite these groups being the target of a wealth of allegations regarding corrupt activities.

Closer analysis of the 66 by the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza found that when it came to politicians, opponents of the party that formed the agency, ...