Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek has placed Telecommunications Minister Tomasz Szyszko on forced leave pending an inquiry into allegations of corruption against an aide to the minister, news reports said Saturday.
The move followed a report from Poland's revenue court which alleged irregularities in a call for bids for third-generation mobile telephone licenses.
The court also said it had found evidence of "a system favoring corruption" within the telecommunications ministry, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported.
Buzek warned that if the allegations were substantiated, he would take the appropriate action.
The government, heading for elections in which it is expected to lose power to former communists, has lost several ministers since the start of the month.
Buzek sacked Justice Minister Lech Kaczynski and the deputy defense minister in charge of military procurement, Romuald Szeremietiew, while Culture Minister Kazimierz Ujazdowski resigned. Treasury Minister Aldona Kamela-Sowinska narrowly survived a no-confidence vote.
The mobile telephone contracts, valued at 650 million euros (555 million dollars) each, went to PTC (a consortium linking Elektrim, Vivendi and Deutsche Telekom), Polkomtel and Centertel (linking Poland's TPSA and France Telecom) – WARSAW (AFP)
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