WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A cybersecurity expert charged with spying for China cooperated with the Polish government on the security measures for the 2016 visit to Poland by Pope Francis and the hundreds of thousands of young people who came to the country for World Youth Day, a Polish radio station said Thursday.
Polish authorities last week arrested Polish citizen, Piotr D., who has held several government cybersecurity posts, as well as a Chinese man, identified as Wang Weijing, who was sales director in Poland for Huawei, China’s tech giant, on charges of spying for China. Prosecutors are refusing to offer any details, saying the case is classified.
Private radio RMF FM posted a communique it obtained from the Polish prime minister’s office that said Piotr D. was part of a team that built cybersecurity for World Youth Day and Francis’ visit. The prime minister then was Beata Szydlo of the currently ruling right-wing Law and Justice party.
The message said the man was head of the inspections department at the state Cyber Communications Office and was involved in the planning of Francis’ visit, free of charge.
The government said in the message that it informed the anti-espionage Internal Security Agency, which made the arrest, about the cooperation.
The development comes as the U.S. is exerting pressure on its allies not to use Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of telecommunications network equipment, over data security concerns.
Huawei said after the arrests that it has fired the sales director, arguing he has brought the firm’s reputation “into disrepute.”
