Poland opens probe into buy of Finnish armoured vehicles

WARSAW (AFP) Aug 13, 2003
The Polish Court of Auditors said on Wednesday it was opening an inquiry into a tender in which Finland's AMV Patria won a more than one billion euro (dollar) contract to sell 690 armoured personnel vehicles to Poland.

The probe follows allegations by Poland's biggest daily Gazeta Wyborcza, that the tender process had been "stained with irregularities", an accusation which the defence ministry has rejected.

"In the next few days preliminary checks will begin at the request of the national section of the union Solidarity in the arms sector," the court's Vice-President Krzysztof Szwedowski said on public radio,

In April the Polish defence ministry signed a nearly five-billion-zloty (1.14 billion euros, 1.28 billion dollars) contract under which Patria would sell Warsaw 400 armoured combat vehicles equipped with 30 mm guns and 290 logistical carriers.

The purchase is the latest of Poland's attempts to bring its military up to the standards of NATO, which it joined in 1999.

Under the deal the vehicles are to be assembled in the southern Polish arms factory at WZM Siemianowice Slaskie.

Two other international consortiums linked up with Polish partners to bid for the contract: Austria's Steyer with its Pandur II and Switzerland's Mowag with its Piranha III.

WAR.WIRE