A former MP and politician in Poland has been charged with espionage for Russia and China, according to a report.

The politician, identified only as "Mateusz P." under Polish privacy laws, was detained by the country’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) in 2016.

Mateusz P., who was once an MP for Poland’s Samoobrona (Self-Defence) party and headed the Zmiana (Change) grouping, has been charged with working for the Russian and Chinese intelligence services and against Poland’s national interests, broadcaster RMF FM reported, citing a bill of indictment that it said prosecutors had submitted against the suspect.

A regional branch of the National Public Prosecutor's Office in Poland’s central Mazowieckie province has sent the bill of indictment to a court, RMF FM reported on Monday.

Prosecutors believe that Mateusz P. in his former role as a politician -- using his numerous contacts at home and abroad, among journalists and in political circles -- promoted Russia’s national interests, RMF FM reported.

He is also suspected of provoking anti-Polish sentiment among Ukrainians and anti-Ukrainian sentiment among Poles, RMF FM said. According to prosecutors, his actions aimed to deepen divisions between Poland and Ukraine.

According to prosecutors, Mateusz P. undertook these activities in conspiracy with Russian security services and obtained substantial financial gain in exchange, RMF FM reported.

The broadcaster cited prosecutors as saying an investigation had revealed that Mateusz P. also worked for the Chinese intelligence service against Poland’s national interests until October 2015.

When Mateusz P. was detained in 2016, the deputy head of the Change grouping, Konrad Rękas, said that Internal Security Agency officers had searched the apartments of members of the grouping’s national authorities, demanding the handover of hard drives, data storage devices, documents, and other items, RMF FM reported.

Rękas insisted at the time that Mateusz P. and other Change activists were "doing business in accordance with the law in Poland, despite being harassed by state authorities," according to RMF FM.

Spying carries a prison term of one to 10 years in Poland, RMF FM reported.

(gs/pk)

Source: rmf24.pl