Poland's national police chief resigns after new interior minister takes office

WARSAW, Poland: Poland's national police chief resigned on Friday, a day after a new interior minister took office.

Marek Bienkowski, police chief since November 2005, said he was resigning for personal reasons, but did not elaborate.

The new interior minister, Janusz Kaczmarek, said he was shocked by Bienkowski's wish to step down but that he planned to accept his resignation.

The departure of the police chief heightens a sense of unpredictability in the government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, following the resignations of two top ministers this week.

The former defense minister Radek Sikorski quit his post on Monday and was replaced by Aleksander Szczyglo, previously a top aide to the premier's brother, President Lech Kaczynski. Two days later, the interior minister, Ludwik Dorn, also stepped down.

Dorn's replacement, Kaczmarek, was sworn in on Thursday.

Also this week, the president's secretary of state for foreign policy, Andrzej Krawczyk, resigned after revelations he signed a document during the Communism era agreeing to cooperate with military intelligence.

Krawczyk said he only signed the document under pressure and that he never cooperated with the secret service. However, he said he was stepping down out of respect for the "dignity" of the office of the president.

The Kaczynski brothers came to power in 2005, pledging to clean up corruption and eliminate all former communists and their supporters from public office.

Source:iht.com