Money laundering continues to remain a large problem

Deputy Finance Minister and General Inspector of Financial Information (GIIF) Jacek Uczkiewicz, said during a Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) seminar, that each year between $3-9 billion is laundered in the country. He quoted data from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). According to Uczkiewicz, "Money laundering is the oil on the mechanisms of corruption and criminal structures". The GIIF office is currently looking into 550 cases connected with money laundering. In the first half of 2003, the Office informed the prosecutor of 63 incidents where the law was broken. Of these, nine transactions were stopped and there were two cases where bank accounts were frozen. According Wiesław Jasiński, a police expert on money laundering, the level of investigating this kind of crime in Poland is still very low. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4) M.M.