Poland joins Egmont group, getting even tougher on money laundering

Poland has become a member of the Egmont group, an international organization fighting against illegal financial transactions and money laundering, said deputy finance minister Jacek Uczkiewicz, who is also the General Inspector of Financial Information. The governments of 69 countries cooperate in the Egmont group, who have forged an information exchange network. The Finance Ministry argues that being a member of this group will assure Polish financial institutions access to databases and the technical expertise of other member countries. The Ministry also counts Poland being accepted into the group as a great success. During the first year of its work the General Inspectorate of Finance Information (GIIF) sent 37 cases, covering a sum of zl. 400 million to the prosecutor, an amount about average for Egmont member states. According to Uczkiewicz, Poland is not the best place to laundry money because the financial system is less complex and therefore more transparent than in other countries. (Puls Biznesu, p. 14) A.D.