Mr Tusk denied he received warnings about Amber Gold Courtesy of FLICKR/KPRM

The political fallout from the demise of Amber Gold, a “parabank” that attracted clients with promises of high returns on investments in gold-indexed instruments, continues to dog Prime Minister Donald Tusk, now that politicians in the Law and Justice (PiS) party have accused him of lying about the matter.

Members of PiS say Mr Tusk received information from Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) that Amber Gold could be a Ponzi scheme back in May, and failed to inform Poles about the dangers of investing in the parabank.

PiS MP Przemysław Wipler wrote on Twitter that he had received information that the PM learned Amber Gold had no gold reserves on May 24, and had lied to Poles about how much he knew.

Mr Tusk has denied this, saying the information he received in May “was not different from what the media were writing about Amber Gold at this time,” and gave him no reason to sound the alarm.

The affair took on decidedly political overtones when it emerged earlier this summer that the prime minister’s son, Michał Tusk, had held a position at OLT Express, a low-cost airline that was backed by Amber Gold and which declared itself insolvent in July. This prompted suggestions that the PM had warned his son about the company. The PM’s son is now suing several tabloids for slander over the matter, saying that their portrayal of him suggests he was involved in the scam.

As of September 7, over 5,000 people have told prosecutors they lost a combined amount of nearly zł.274 million to Amber Gold. The company’s owner, Marcin P. (Polish law forbids the release of the full names of those against whom charges have been brought), was arrested on August 30 and is facing seven charges of financial wrongdoing.