A fugitive Polish "multi-millionaire" at the heart of an eavesdropping scandal that contributed to the ruling Civic Platform liberals losing elections in 2015 has been arrested in Spain, police said Saturday. Marek Falenta was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in Poland in December 2016 for setting up an eavesdropping system in swanky restaurants in Warsaw that saw waiters record conversations between businesspeople and politicians.
That led to a major scandal that erupted in 2014 with media publishing extracts of incriminating conversations including Poland's then foreign minister who allegedly slammed Warsaw's alliance with the United States as "worthless". The scandal contributed to the ruling Civic Platform losing in 2015 to the conservative opposition Law and Justice party now in power.
While not identifying him by name, Spanish police said in a statement they and some of their Polish counterparts had arrested a "multi-millionaire" wanted by Warsaw in a luxury apartment in the eastern seaside town of Cullera. They only gave his initials as "M.A.F" and stated he came 67th in Poland's Wprost list of top fortunes in 2013.