Testifying before a Sejm investigation committee Feb. 22, film producer Lew Rywin-at the center of a corruption scandal widely referred to as Rywingate-rejected the committee's accusations of corruption.

"I am the victim of a massive attack launched by Agora and its allies," stated Rywin. He declined to answer the committee's questions.

"I declare that I have never operated in any group or offered a bribe to anyone," said Rywin. He appeared before the committee as a witness in the case. The committee was established as a parliamentary probe into allegations of corruption surrounding the ongoing work on a radio and television law amendment.

Rywin added that he was in a position to support his words with evidence-which however he could not reveal for the time being due to simultaneous penal proceedings in progress in the case. Making his brief statement before the committee, Rywin officially distanced himself from the accusations of corruption leveled against him.

According to materials disclosed by Gazeta Wyborcza in December, in a talk with the daily's editor-in-chief Adam Michnik in July 2002, Rywin allegedly offered to bring about changes to the radio and television law in exchange for an astronomical bribe. During the talk, clandestinely recorded by Michnik, Rywin allegedly mentioned Prime Minister Leszek Miller and made it understood that the $17.5-million bribe would be used for the needs of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).

In his statement before the committee, Rywin denied having any ties to the SLD or Miller himself. He said that during the talk Michnik sought to bring about a situation in which "a shadow of suspicion" would be cast on the prime minister. "I didn't mention anyone, especially not Prime Minister Miller," Rywin said. He added that prior to July 2002 he had only met the prime minister twice at official events. "I have or had no ties to SLD structures," Rywin said.

He questioned the reliability of the materials burdening him, saying he had fallen victim to an "intricate plot" mounted by Agora, the publisher of Gazeta Wyborcza, and Agora President Wanda Rapaczyńska. "I did not believe that Gazeta Wyborcza would stoop to such a level to publish a manipulated version of a surreptitiously recorded private conversation," Rywin said. He added that he had not addressed Agora with a "lobbying proposal," as he put it.

"It was Wanda Rapaczyńska who insisted that I join her game around the radio/television law," Rywin said. "It was at her specific request, supported with three studies made by Agora, that I asked Robert Kwiatkowski to help find a compromise in the matter."

Rywin also accused Piotr Niemczycki, deputy president of Agora, of encouraging him to bear a false testimony. "Record or put down in writing who sent you, and we'll leave you alone-this was how I was pressured twice by Piotr Niemczycki. I refused," Rywin said.

After delivering his statement, Rywin declined to answer any further questions from the committee, quoting his right to defense in the penal proceedings independently launched in the case. In January, the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw charged Rywin with "paid protection," an act liable to a prison term of up to three years. However, the prosecutor's office is now thinking of changing the charge to corruption or fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 12 years.

Rywin's refusal to answer the committee's questions was "highly meaningful," said Tomasz Nałęcz, chairman of the committee, after the hearing. "It strengthened my preliminary belief that the case files contain evidence that heavily burdens Lew Rywin."

Michnik, at an impromptu press conference convened after Rywin's statement, said that Gazeta Wyborcza maintained everything that it had written about the case. "Rywin was not telling the truth before the investigation committee," Michnik stated.

Miller also commented on Rywin's words. "Rywin is telling the truth when he says that he has no ties to the SLD and that neither the Alliance nor the prime minister have anything to do with the affair involving the purported bribe."

Before Rywin appeared before the committee, Robert Kwiatkowski, president of public Polish Television (TVP SA), completed his testimony. Kwiatkowski previously testified on Feb. 19, 20 and 21. According to testimonies by previous witnesses, Michnik and Rapaczyńska, Kwiatkowski was one of the persons that Rywin mentioned in making his alleged influence-peddling proposal to Agora.

Kwiatkowski flatly denied that he was behind Rywin. "I'm innocent; I did not initiate the law-for-a-bribe idea; I did not send Rywin to Michnik," he stated at the beginning.

Kwiatkowski added that as president of TVP he was and remained involved in the process of amending the radio and television law because this is "his basic duty." He also stated that he was interested in seeing the matter resolved because "some people have already accused and even found me guilty."

Kwiatkowski said he was not ashamed of his close private contacts with Rywin. He confirmed that he and his wife spent a weekend at Rywin's country home in Mazuria July 20-21 last year. A day later, July 22, the conversation recorded by Michnik under the table took place, followed by Michnik and Rywin's meeting with Prime Minister Miller, during which Rywin mentioned Kwiatkowski as the initiator of the corrupt proposal made to Agora.

Asked about his numerous contacts with Rywin over the telephone, including calls at critical times before and after his talks with Agora executives in July 2002, Kwiatkowski stated that these were attributable to Telewizja Polska's numerous shared business interests with Canal Plus and Heritage Films, which Rywin represented. Kwiatkowski dismissed statements that secret plans to privatize Polish Television Two (TVP 2) were the key to explaining the Rywin affair. He called these opinions "absurd."

Meanwhile, Piotr Smolana, a representative of Samoobrona on the committee, resigned Feb. 25. Together with Deputy Zbigniew Ziobro of Law and Justice (PiS), Smolana was one of two deputies whose right to sit on the committee was questioned by Rywin's lawyers on the grounds that these two deputies were involved in the penal proceedings in the case of their client.