Walesa Admits Not Paying Taxes On Film Money

President Lech Walesa, fighting for re-election against an ex-Communist challenger, acknowledged Thursday for the first time that he did not pay Polish taxes on $1 million he received for the movie rights to his life.

“This is petty money,” Walesa told a news conference. “I have never been greedy. I have given so much for Poland.”

The president reminded journalists he had donated his 1983 Nobel Peace Prize award, just over $150,000, to the Solidarity trade union.

Walesa had been evading the tax question for several days after it emerged in the bitter runoff campaign against Aleksander Kwasniewski.

The challenger is under investigation by the Warsaw prosecutor’s office for filing an incomplete financial declaration. They say he failed to list his wife’s stock.