On 20 December 2006, journalists found documents from the dictatorship's archives according to which Archbishop Wielgus collaborated—or at least conversed—with the secret police during communist rule in Poland. This development was considered to be particularly significant in the context of post-communist Polish politics, because public figures, particularly politicians, can be officially censured and barred from holding public office if found to have collaborated with the Security Services (Polish: Służba Bezpieczeństwa) of the People's Republic of Poland (Polish: PRL, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa). The process of review of the Security Service's files, known in Poland as lustration (Pol: Lustracja) has been the source of many political scandals in recent years. The Polish human rights ombudsman, Janusz Kochanowski, said on 4 January 2007 that there was evidence in the secret police archives that Archbishop Wielgus knowingly cooperated with the dictatorship.