Ex-deputy PM jailed for sex crimes


POLAND'S former deputy prime minister was today jailed for two years and three months after being found guilty of demanding sexual favors in exchange for job opportunities.

Lepper's former aide, Stanislaw Lyzwinski, was also sentenced to five years in jail for rape and demanding sexual favors by the same court in the central Polish city of Piotrkow Trybunalski.

The populist Lepper served as deputy prime minister in 2006-2007 in a right wing-populist coalition government led by Law and Justice (PiS) chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of Poland's current President Lech Kaczynski.

A high profile political sex scandal erupted in December 2006 when a then 33-year-old woman, Aneta Krawczyk, accused Lepper and Lyzwinski of demanding sexual favours in exchange for a job in Samoobrona, their populist political party.

The scandal rocked Polish politics and contributed to the plunge in popularity of the Kaczynski government and sparked the collapse of his coalition in the summer of 2007.

Lepper lost his seat in parliament in Poland's autumn 2007 election.