Experts in the field of the study of handwriting, commissioned in the context of a criminal investigation on counterfeit documents from the years 1970-1976, concerning the alleged cooperation of Lech Wałesa with the communist Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa-SB), have revealed that the documents are authentic.

This opinion is unambiguous, comprehensive and consistent, and its conclusions leave no doubt. The opinion will be subject to further proceedings conducted by the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation in Białystok.

The investigation was initiated on 25 February 2016, in connection with public statements made by Lech Wałęsa claiming that materials of the Security Service secret collaborator code-named "Bolek", found in the house of the former communist Minister of Internal Affairs Czesław Kiszczak, had been falsified. The aim of the procedure is to check whether the offense of counterfeiting documents in order to gain material benefits had taken place and, if so, by whom. In the investigation Lech Wałęsa has the status of the aggrieved person.

In order to verify the authenticity of the documents found in the house of Czesław Kiszczak, prosecutors commissioned a professional expert opinion in the field of handwriting in the renowned Prof. Jan Sehn Institute of Forensic Research in Cracow. A team of experts analysed 158 documents from the work and personal files of the secret collaborator code-named "Bolek", including the commitment to cooperate with the Security Service handwritten on 21 December 1970. In addition to 117 pages of denunciatory notes written by hand by the agent code-named "Bolek" and 17 handwritten confirmation notes for the receipt of money in return for information provided by the agent codenamed "Bolek, as well as the signatures of "Lech Wałęsa", "Lech Wałęsa Bolek" and "Bolek" appearing in the above mentioned documents.

The experts received extensive comparative material in the form of 142 documents that were drafted or signed by Lech Wałęsa in the period 1963-2016. They included, among others:

• documents from the years 1963-2013, associated with the issuing of Lech Wałęsa’s identity card, driving licence, proof of vehicle registration;
• documents from the Gdańsk Municipal Property Management, 1972;
• documents from the Construction Equipment Plant "ZREMB" in Gdańsk from the years 1976-1980;
• personal files of Lech Wałesa derived from the Gdańsk Shipyard from the years 1978-1996;
• passport files of Lech Wałesa, including documents drafted by Lech Walesa from the years 1980-1989;
• documents stored in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland, from the years 1989-1995;
• documents signed in 2016 by Lech Wałesa in investigation S 18.2016.Zk of the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation in Białystok;

In addition, the experts analysed the handwritten documents of 10 officers of the Security Service, whose data appeared in the work and personal files of the agent code-named "Bolek".

The result of the examination conducted from 20 May 2016 to 23 January 2017 is a 235 page-long opinion of experts, who explicitly and without doubt established that:

• the handwritten commitment to cooperate with the Security Service of 21 December 1970 was fully drawn up by Lech Wałesa;
• 17 handwritten confirmation notes of receipt of money transferred by security service officers in return for information was fully outlined by Lech Wałęsa; these notes were created between 5 January 1971 and 29 June 1974 and totaled to PLN 11,700;
• 29 handwritten reports of a secret collaborator, drawn up and signed with the code name "Bolek" were fully outlined by Lech Wałęsa;
• 5 handwritten reports of a secret collaborator, not bearing the code name or any other signature, were also outlined by Lech Wałęsa;
• 6 handwritten reports of a secret collaborator were prepared by Lech Wałęsa, while the code name "Bolek" in these reports was outlined by the appointed security service officers;
• one handwritten report consisting of six pages was prepared by the appointed security service officer, and bears the codename "Bolek", outlined by Lech Wałęsa on each page;
• one handwritten report by the secret collaborator was drawn up and signed with the code name “Bolek” by the appointed security service officer.

In the course of the proceedings conducted by the prosecutors from the investigating department of the IPN, Lech Wałęsa, heard as a witness, denied that he had been the author of the commitment to cooperate with the Security Service or other documents presented to him and included in the work and personal files of the agent codenamed "Bolek". He testified that he had never collaborated with the communist Security Service of the Polish People’s Republic, had not signed any note confirming receipt of money from the Security Service, nor had he made any denunciatory reports.

As a person having the status of the aggrieved person in the proceedings, Lech Wałęsa is entitled to familiarise himself with the opinion of experts and refer to the conclusions contained therein.