[JURIST] Prosecutors investigating allegations of a CIA secret prison in a Polish forest announced on Friday that they will be looking further into recent developments surrounding the so-called “black site.” According to the Washington Post, two senior CIA officials were seen delivering cardboard boxes containing $15 million in cash [WP report] to the US Embassy in Warsaw in early 2003. The cash was soon delivered to the Polish intelligence headquarters, a payment made in exchange for access to a remote prison in northern Poland. Officials from the Polish government have continued to deny [Reuters report] the existence of a secret CIA jail within their borders.

Under the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, terrorism suspects were seized and flown to secret locations outside the US for interrogation and imprisonment. The Polish site was allegedly the largest CIA detention facility in Europe [JURIST report]. In addition to Poland, Romania and Lithuania [JURIST reports] are alleged to have housed secret CIA facilities. On his third day in office in 2009, US President Barack Obama ordered the closure [JURIST report] of all CIA secret prisons. In February 2007, the European Parliament condemned more than a dozen European states [JURIST report] for their roles in the program. Then-US President George W. Bush acknowledged the existence of the secret facilities [JURIST report] in September 2006 but provided no details on their locations or operation.