Anti-immigration Polish government engulfed by cash-for-visas scandal as crucial election looms

The stridently anti-immigration Polish government has come under fire for allegations of granting hundreds of thousands of working visas in exchange for bribes.

With less than a month to go to crucial parliamentary elections that could see the populist ruling party PiS ejected from power, Poland's anti-corruption body has launched a probe into the affair.

The still-developing scandal began at the end of August when the country's foreign ministry was searched by the local anti-corruption body. Soon afterward, Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk was fired for not collaborating with the investigation.

Wawrzyk was officially forced out of his job for "lack of sufficient co-operation" with the investigation, but it is now being reported in Polish media that he is suspected of helping to create the scheme and pressuring consuls to issue visas to people of his choosing.

Last week, he was reportedly hospitalised with life-threatening injuries after an apparent suicide attempt.

It soon emerged that under a cash-for-visa scheme, would-be immigrants in a developing African nation were able to "buy stamped visas" from intermediaries by simply making a cash payment and "writing a name".

In other developing countries, a €4,500 payment was enough to secure a visa from a Polish consulate via an intermediary company.

Among the Polish consulates now being investigated are outposts in countries from Taiwan and the Philippines to Tanzania and Nigeria.

Polish outlet Onet, which has exposed much of the scandal, reported that last year, a group of applicants from India posing as Bollywood filmmakers were granted work visas in connection with a non-existent movie project titled "Asati". Later, another, larger group were granted visas via the same route on the basis they were making a film named "Milton in Malta".

With the details of the scheme still emerging, other EU states – many of which Poland and its allies have blamed for mismanaging an influx of refugees into the Schengen area – have expressed their alarm at the suspiciously high volume of immigrants entering the zone with Polish visas.

The German government has asked Poland for a "rapid and complete clarification" of the