Diplomat: Millionaire offered Walesa bribe

WARSAW, Poland, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- A diplomat says expatriate Polish millionaire Jan Kobylanski in 1995 offered a $200,000 bribe to then-Polish President Lech Walesa in Uruguay.

Ryszard Schnepf, Polish ambassador to Spain and former ambassador to Uruguay, Paraguay and Costa Rica, testified in Warsaw District Court Tuesday that Kobylanski offered the money to Walesa during a trip to Montevideo in exchange for allowing him to influence diplomatic appointments to Latin America, Polish Radio reported.

He also allegedly sought to be named honorary ambassador of the Polish Republic in Latin America, Schnepf said.

Kobylanski, 86, is suing 18 Polish journalists and ambassadors, including Schnepf, for defamation four years after newspapers claimed the businessman had denounced Jews to Nazi occupiers during World War II and helped Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, the Polish broadcaster said.

Kobylanski has denied Schnepf's allegations. Polish Radio said Walesa has neither confirmed nor denied the bribery allegations.