(11 Jul 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Wide exterior of Polish Parliament, "Sejm", building
2. Polish flag on roof of building
3. Leader of Self-Defence Party and former Polish deputy prime minister, Andrzej Lepper, walking into news conference
3. Wide of media at news conference
4. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) Andrzej Lepper, Leader of Self-Defence Party and former Polish deputy prime minister:
"It is said that citizens pay for the mistakes of politicians. And what is this then? A premeditated political provocation. Political. Premeditated, from beginning to end. Should this just go by unnoticed? I demand that the committee for special services and justice and human rights committees convene (to investigate the issue)."
5. Cutaway of media
6. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) Andrzej Lepper, Leader of Self-Defence Party and former Polish deputy prime minister:
"You cannot make interpretations on demand. If there were no bases - and there were none - because as far as I am concerned, there were no investigations into any kind of bribes, suspicions that there might be something going on in the ministry (of agriculture). Instead, from the beginning they tried to lie, it was attempted to attract someone using a bribe. Ladies and gentlemen, this should not be allowed."
7. Cutaway of media
8. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) Andrzej Lepper, Leader of Self-Defence Party and former Polish deputy prime minister:
"I will not return to the post of (agriculture) minister, I am telling you. Even if I am not dismissed from that post, I will offer my resignation. I will not be minister of agriculture, which does not mean I will not be deputy prime minister."
9. Cameraman
10. Lepper leaving news conference
11. Close of sign reading: (Polish) "Senate of the Republic of Poland"
12. Senators walking into room
13. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) Wlodyslaw Mankut, Senator from opposition coalition Lewica i Demokraci (LID):
"This type of behaviour (referring to the Self Defence party's decision to stay in coalition government), in my opinion, is in defence of the position and place of the party without seeing the broader context of Poland and also of Europe. It is a sad thing."
13. Lepper leaving parliament building
STORYLINE
Poland's former deputy prime minister, Andrzej Lepper, on Wednesday, rejected corruption allegations hanging over him as a deliberate "political provocation," but reiterated that his party would remain in the shaky governing coalition.
Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski fired Lepper, leader of the junior coalition partner Self-Defence and also the agriculture minister, on Monday, after an elite anti-corruption police unit linked him to a major corruption case.
But the story, which has gripped Poland, took a new twist on Wednesday after two daily newspapers, Dziennik and Rzeczpospolita, published articles saying that the Anti-Corruption Office, created by Kaczynski's Law and Justice party, ran a sting operation against two allegedly corrupt businessmen who had bragged of their ties to Lepper.
The papers also say the law agency, which used high-tech bugging devices and falsified legal documents in its sting, also wanted to collect evidence of alleged corruption on Lepper's part.
The papers did not reveal their sources, although Rzeczpospolita does cite an anonymous prosecutor overseeing the investigation.
The Anti-Corruption Office declined to comment, but the agency's chief scheduled a news conference for later on Wednesday.
Lepper said he was targeted because he poses a threat as a party chief and eventual candidate for president in 2010 elections.
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