Background to expulsion of "foreign intelligence officer" from Poland.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Text of report by Polish news agency PAP

Warsaw, 9 March: A foreign intelligence officer, who had since 2003 maintained contacts of an operational character with Marcin T., has at the demand of the Polish side departed from the territory of the Republic of Poland, the Internal Security Agency [ABW] revealed on Wednesday [9 March] evening.

It was not stated when this took place and which foreign intelligence service is involved. The media are speculating that this concerns Russian intelligence, although nobody has officially confirmed this.

The fact of expulsion of an officer means that he has to have been a diplomat who was protected by immunity. Otherwise, he would have been arrested together with Marcin T., a former assistant to the head of the investigative commission into the PKN Orlen case, Jozef Gruszka (of the Polish Peasant Party - PSL). In such a case, the only possible sanction is to deem the given diplomat, and at the same time intelligence officer, persona non grata (a person undesirable in this country - PAP editorial note).

A communique from the ABW press team passed to PAP states that as the result of activities by the counter-intelligence department of the ABW in "counteracting the activity of foreign special services on the territory of Poland, 3 March saw the detention of Marcin T., a citizen of the Republic of Poland who had since 2003 maintained contacts of an operational character with an intelligence officer from a neighbouring state."

"The ABW has passed the materials gathered in this case to the prosecutor's office, which on this basis on 24 February 2005 instigated criminal proceedings against Marcin T. Beforehand, on the demand of the Polish side, an officer of a foreign intelligence service left the territory of the Republic of Poland," reads the communique.