Tusk interrogated in Poland over pyramid scheme

European Council President and former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk underwent on Monday a 7-hour long interrogation by a parliamentary committee over the Amber Gold pyramid scheme in Warsaw.

The commission was supposed to determine the scope of Tusk's authority over state security and other offices. Earlier, dozens of state officials have been interrogated by the commission in its efforts to investigate the responsibility for the scam, one of the biggest financial scandals in Poland.

Tusk rejected allegations that the authorities failed to react in time, and reminded that a warning against Amber Gold was issued by the Polish Financial Supervision Commission. He said it was not the prime minister's duty to issue such a warning.

Tusk's son, Michal Tusk, who worked at the Amber Gold-owned OLT Express airline, also involved in the case. Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported that commenting on Michal Tusk's possible role in the affair, Tusk said he had no knowledge about a rumored ban on inquiries into his son's ties to Amber Gold, and called such a ban "improbable".

Tusk was the final witness to be questioned in this case. The initial date of his hearing, scheduled for Oct. 2, was postponed, due to the local elections.

Amber Gold bank, which proved to be a pyramid scheme, encouraged clients to invest in gold and other precious metals and cheated thousands of Poles out of their savings during Tusk's time as prime minister. The founders of the scheme have been charged with swindling more than 18,000 people out of savings worth about 200 million euros.