Polish politician works for the crooks

Warsaw - A senior Polish politician resigned on Friday after being charged with leaking information used to tip off criminals about an impending police swoop.

"I have presented my resignation, although I am innocent and the victim of unfounded charges," deputy interior minister Zbigniew Sobotka told reporters after being charged by the prosecutor's office in the southern town of Kielce.

Sobotka, a member of parliament belonging to the ruling social democrat (SLD) party and close to Prime Minister Leszek Miller, also renounced his parliamentary immunity.

The row first erupted in July when newspapers reported links between SLD politicians and organised crime in Starachowice, an industrial town in central Poland.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1065189782344B214&set_id=1