(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s central bank hit back at an attempted probe of its governor by alleging that the ruling coalition lawmakers behind it broke the law.
The central bank said on Friday it notified the prosecutor’s office about a suspected offense by the parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia and Zdzislaw Gawlik, a lawmaker who heads a parliamentary committee in charge of the investigation.
The panel will decide whether Governor Adam Glapinski should face a trial at a special court for state officials, a move that may result in his suspension and eventual ouster from the office.
Gawlik said on Thursday that the committee will start work and plans to take testimony from more than 50 witnesses. Glapinski dismissed the investigation as “unjustified,” warning that it breaches the central bank’s independence and could weaken the zloty.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s administration has accused the governor, an ally of the nationalist Law & Justice party that lost power in last year’s general election, of politicizing central bank policy and irregularities in its bond-buying program. Glapinski has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The governor also said he considered the investigation illegal after Poland’s top court ruled last month that he can’t be called in to testify. Tusk and his lawmakers have dismissed the verdict, saying the court was packed with allies of the previously populist administration and had lost its impartiality.
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