The Phenomenon of Money Laundering as a Field of Research in Poland

Legalising proceeds of crime has been criminalised since 1995 in Poland when the Protection of Economic Turnover Act came in force. The trouble was that no one had an idea what it was. Few cases were investigated and most of tchem were dismissed by the court. The necessary studies became inevitable in order to measure the phenomenon. There have been two major fields of research concerning the money laundering issue: the methods of legalising proceeds of crime and building and organising anti-money laundering regime in Poland. The first issue refers to the problem of the phenomenology of money laundering. It covers studies of criminal cases in order to analyse methods used by the launderers. The experts are trying to answer several basic questions: how the proceeds of crime are being legalised, which financial and non-financial institutions are abused, how much money is being laundered. is there a method typical for Poland, etc. The second field of research covers the functioning of the anti-money laundering regime in Poland. The Polish financial intelligelce unit has been established scarcely in 2001. It is still under construction due to changes of international standards, as well as due to the improverment of existing regulations. There is some research concerning the following issues: how obliged institutions fulfil statutory obligations, how their employees are prepared to execute them, is the system efficient, etc. The author presents the results of the studies conducted so far referring to both areas. He shows a diagnosis of the Polish situation in that regard. He also suggests some new untouched areas. As the last point, the author included some case studies. They are examples of criminal cases concerning money laundering in Poland