1. 5th Annual Conference
of the European Society of Criminology
CRACOW 2005
The Phenomenon of Money Laundering
As a Field of Research In Poland
dr Wojciech Filipkowski
Faculty of Law
University in Białystok
Poland

2. The process of criminalization
of money laundering
• The Protection of Economic Turnover
Act of 1994
• The Criminal Code of 1997 – Art. 299
• The Criminal Code – changes to Art. 299
provided by the Anti-Money Laundering
Act of 2000
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3. The anti-money laundering regime
– researches
• W. Jasiński – bank’s internal regulations
(1993 – 1996)
• J. W. Wójcik – the awareness of the
phenomenon of ML (2001)
• E. M. Guzik-Makaruk & W. Filipkowski –
anti-ML regime and capital market (2004)
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4. The anti-money laundering regime
– J. W. Wójcik results
• Most of the respondents were not aware of the proper
regulations regarding combating money laundering.
• People working in banks had better results comparing
for ones working in other obliged institutions.
• All of them complained that they had not been properly
trained and prepared to fulfill such obligations.
• The “Know Your Customer” principle was not sufficiently
known to personnel in medium and small banks, neither
was properly executed.
• The compliance officers were aware of the importance of
their role in the system, but sometimes they did not know
basic regulations regarding their duties.
• There were also some human resources and
organizational problems.
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5. The trends and methods
of money laundering - researches
• K. Buczkowski & M. Wojtaszek –
prosecutors’ & courts’ cases (2001)
• Police Academy in Szczytno – Police
criminal investigations (2003)
• The General Inspector for Financial
Information – Annual Report of 2004
• W. Filipkowski – courts’ cases (2005)
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6. The Police Academy research
• 50/50 - the bank's information / the operational work of law
enforcement.
• Laundered money derives from the economic crimes.
• The criminals launders their dirty money by themselves.
• The methods: simple bank operations, blending, transfer
pricing, using fake invoices and contracts.
• The network of enterprises to move funds between them.
• The Smurfs-like activities: opening accounts, making
deposits or withdrawing money, buying real estates, sitting
at the board of different companies.
• The organizers usually don't confess or cooperate. The
Smurfs usually pleas guilty.
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7. The GIFI – Annual Report of 2004
• The fuel sector of Polish economy – main
sources of illegal gains.
• The criminals have been abusing the Polish
capital market.
• Large quantities of money (foreign
currencies) have been brought from Ukraine,
Russia and Belarus.
• Typical methods: blending, fictitious
donations or loans, transfer pricing, collecting
bank accounts for accumulating and then
distributing funds.
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8. 2005
E.M.Guzik-Makaruk
W. Filipkowski
W. Filipkowski
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GIFI 2004
Police Academy
GIFI 2003
ML Researches - timeline
in Szczytno
J.W.Wójcik
K.Buczkowski
M.Wojtaszek
2000
Anti-ML Act of 2000
Criminal Code of 1997
The Anti-ML Regime
The Phenomenon
1995
W. Jasiński
criminalization

9. Final remarks
• A Yeti syndrome
• The role of criminologists
• Cooperation with public and private
sector
• A turning point
• New challenges
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10. Thank You for Your Attention …
dr Wojciech Filipkowski
fwojtek@uwb.edu.pl
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