WARSAW: A prosecutor who previously conducted a probe into the scandal intended to bring charges against a deputy finance minister at the time, but was removed from the investigation amid unclear circumstances, according to TVP. National Public Prosecutor Bogdan Święczkowski has decided to relaunch the investigation after analysing the case files, the public broadcaster said. The renewed investigation would look into decisions on the registration of slot machines, taken by finance ministry officials from 2006 to 2009. The gambling affair sent political shockwaves across the nation and substantially undermined the reputation of the then-government of Donald Tusk, currently President of the European Council. The scandal broke out after Poland’s Rzeczpospolita daily reported that Tusk’s ministers met with gambling industry representatives in the summer of 2009 and later lobbied to stop proposed tax hikes on betting. The District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw decided to close down the investigation into the scandal in April 2011 after it concluded there was insufficient evidence to bring a criminal case to court.
