Producer faces bribery charge
A Polish film producer who helped make “Schindler’s List” has been barred from traveling abroad after being charged in a bribery investigation, prosecutors in Warsaw said Wednesday.
Lew Rywin, who also co-produced Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist,” allegedly solicited a $17.5-million payment from a newspaper publisher last year to lobby the government for favorable media laws. He has denied seeking a bribe.
Authorities confiscated Rywin’s passport after he was charged and questioned Tuesday, said Zbigniew Jaskolski, a spokesman for Warsaw prosecutors.
He said Rywin refused to answer prosecutors’ questions, citing his right to avoid self-incrimination.
The newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza published the allegations against Rywin last month.
The paper reported that he approached its publisher and chief editor with the offer last July, claiming he represented Prime Minister Leszek Miller. Miller denies sending Rywin.
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