https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2019.19.3.06
In a report addressed to Poland assessing Poland’s penalisation of money laundering the EU Moneyval Committee failed to take into account the differences between the Continental system of law and common law. Moneyval did not consider certain institutions in the general part of Polish Penal Code, either. As a result it issued a negative report, accusing Poland of failure to criminalise the preparatory stage of money laundering. In response to the report the Polish legislator criminalised the preparatory stage of the commission of money laundering, despite criticism from the Supreme Court and the Bureau of Research attached to the Chancellery of Sejm, justifying its move solely on the grounds of the Moneyval report.
This article presents the international standard for the anti-money laundering system and shows that the Polish legal system is compatible with it. I show that Moneyval’s allegations were wrong, firstly because Moneyval misconstrued the international standard, and secondly because most cases of the initial phase of money laundering were punishable in Poland even before the penalisation of the preparatory stage. I also show that countries are not legally bound by Moneyval reports. I express a view that the Polish anti-money laundering system may have become less effective due to the introduction of a special measure to penalise the preparatory stage of money laundering.
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