The latest scandal has triggered calls on Prime MInister Donald Tusk to resign. Photo by EPA/BGNES
A recording of a restaurant conversation leaked Saturday rocked Poland's center-right government and prompted Prime Minister Tusk to hold a news conference later on Monday.
In the conversation leaked by Polish weekly Wprost, Marek Belka, Chief of the National Bank of Poland, could be heard as telling Interior Minister Bartolomiej Sienkewicz that his institution could help the cabinet to keep public debt beyond the legal threshold if Jacek Rostowski was replaced as Finance Minister.
This was purportedly recorded in a Warsaw restaurant last summer, and Rostowski was dismissed in November 2013 by Prime Minister Donalk Tusk as the latter had opted for a cabinet reshuffle.
Wprost was reported by Dariknews.bg as claiming it also has more recordings at disposal which could tarnish the reputation of other cabinet members.
Tusk himself has described the matter as "an unpleasant" one.
The Wall Street Journal quotes members of the Peasants Party, Tusk's junior coalition partner, that the words which could be heard in the conversation were "greatly inappropriate".
Central bank governor Belka, on the other hand, denies the authenticity of the "leak" and says it has been "manipulated".
The scandal has nevertheless led to calls that the Prime Minister stand down.