Amendments to the Penal Code

The Penal Code has been amended with some 'revolutionary paragraphs', as Sejm Speaker Marek Borowski described them. If a person who has just given a bribe reports this fact to the police or to the prosecutor before the latter find out for themselves, he or she will remain unpunished. Although the new regulation, to come into force July 1, seems rather controversial, 415 deputies voted for it, only 9 were against and 4 abstained from yesterday's voting. The regulation is aimed at spoiling the solidarity between those who give bribes and those who accept them. The Code was also amended with a new regulation on recovering illegally obtained property, which at present can be easily divided among a suspect's family. According to the new regulation, the suspect has to prove that his property comes from legal sources. (Rzeczpospolita, p. C1, www.polskieradio.pl) K.Ż. Tax News