POLISH LEADER RESPONDS IN SPY CASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201130015-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 15
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Polish Leader
Responds in
Spy Case
Probe of Charges
In India Under Why
By William Claiborne
5'ashington Post Foreign Service
NEW DELHI, Feb. 12-Polish
Prime Minister Gen. Wojciech Jaru-
zelski said today his government is
investigating allegations that a Pol-
ish diplomat was involved in India's
widening espionage scandal, but he
denied that Poland was interested
in obtaining any state secrets.
In a press conference following
two days of talks with Indian Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi and other
Indian leaders, Jaruzelski said that
"anything of interest to us in India
can be acquired by us legally," and
that "we have no need to resort to
other methods or ways of collec-
tion."
Revealing traces of annoyance at
repeated questions about the spy
case, the Polish leader told report-
ers at one point, "I'm very sorry but
I cannot satisfy any demands for
sensationalism, and I have nothing
to add to that question."
jaruzelski's visit to India is his
first outside the Soviet Bloc since
he assumed leadership of the Polish
government in 1981, and his re-
marks followed disclosures that
Gandhi raised the espionage issue
during a two-hour meeting on Mon-
day.
In an unusual public reference to
such an embarrassing topic during a
state visit, an Indian Foreign Affairs
Ministry spokesman yesterday said
that "the [Indian) prime minister
drew the attention of the prime
minister of Poland to this matter."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201130015-2
WASHINGTON POST
13 February
The Indian government has re-
fused to discuss details of the al-
leged involvement of Polish officials
in the spy ring, but the Press Trust
of India news agency reported that
New Delhi businessman Kumar
Narayan, allegedly a central figure
in the espionage case, declared in a
written confession submitted in
court that he sold defense secrets
to. a deputy commercial attache in
the Polish Embassy here. The Pol-
ish official, identified in Indian press
reports as Jan Haberka, reportedly
returned to Warsaw last August
after serving here for more than
four years.
So far, 16 Indian government
officials and businessmen have been
arrested, and eight have made
statements in court implicating dip-
lomats from France, Poland, the
Soviet Union and East Germany in
buying state secrets stolen by office
assistants and secretaries in the
prime minister's office, the presi-
dent's office and the Defense Min-
istry over a period of 25 years.
Two junior diplomats have re-
portedly been recalled from the So-
viet and East German embassy
staffs, and official sources said that
a-'. second Soviet official may be
asked to leave. Most of the secret
documents said to have been stolen
and copied by low-ranking Indian
ig vernment employes reportedly
dealt with defense procurement
oontracts.
Although France has come under
increasing public censure following
the hurried departure of its deputy
military attache, Alain Bolley, the
Eastern European link has partic-
ularly unsettled Indian officials, who
have long relied on the Soviet
t1nion for financial assistance. Mos-
cow provides India with about 75
percent of its arms imports, and the
espionage ring was believed to have
centered on India's efforts recently
tb diversify it military purchases
into western markets.
Jaruzelski, in an hour-long press
conference, said he had assured the
radian prime minister that "we shall
dp our best to investigate the mat-
ter very closely to find out whether
a;Polish diplomat or an employe of
the trade mission could have ex-
ceeded his functions."
When Indian reporters repeat-
edly returned to the question, the
Polish leader expressed impatience,
saying, "The reply I have given on
this particular subject I deem as
exhausted ...."
When asked whether the convic-
tion of four security officers in the
murder of pro-Solidarity priest
Jerzy Popieluszko meant that the
case was closed, or whether addi-
tional conspirators would be ar-
rested, Jaruzelski replied that Pol-
ish justice had run its course in an
open trial, and that "sofa.- it has
been impossible to find any other
inspiration or complicity except on
the benches where the accused
were sitting."
He added, "Should we find in the
future any other traces of instiga-
tion, it would be in the best possible
interest of Poland" to prosecute.
But, Jaruzelski said, "for the time
being there are no such traces."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201130015-2