POLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Jaroslaw Kruk, Joanna Bogdanska and Urszula Brzozowska, KW Kruk and Partners Law Firm
far to escalate matters and at what stage, particularly where criminal allegations could affect ongoing deci - sion-making or the market perception of the business. Governance failures are increasingly part of the dispute itself One of the more noticeable developments in Poland is that fraud disputes are no longer analysed solely through the conduct of the wrongdoer. In many cas - es, the dispute also turns on the quality of the victim company’s own governance arrangements. Questions about approval chains, segregation of duties, internal reporting, supervision of finance teams and escalation procedures are now often central to the factual and legal analysis. This is particularly visible in cases involving pay - ment diversion, insider misconduct and procurement irregularities. Opponents, insurers and sometimes even business partners increasingly examine whether warning signs were missed, whether internal controls were followed and whether the company reacted appropriately once concerns arose. As a result, gov - ernance weaknesses are no longer treated only as an internal management issue: They can become part of the dispute itself. For clients, the practical lesson is that a fraud response strategy should not begin only after an incident has crystallised. Businesses that review decision-making structures, approval frameworks and reporting lines in advance are usually in a much stronger position later, not only to prevent fraud but also to explain their conduct persuasively if a dispute arises. In that sense, corporate governance is becoming part of recovery strategy as much as part of compliance. Cross-border features are increasingly common Another clear market trend is the growing international dimension of fraud work in Poland. Even where the victim, the payment and the initial event are domes - tic, the case often develops a cross-border aspect very quickly. Funds are moved abroad, service pro - viders are located elsewhere, beneficial control sits in another jurisdiction or relevant digital infrastructure is outside Poland.
For clients, this makes early case management even more important. Cross-border matters tend to punish delay. If the initial factual record is weak, if the transac - tion chain is not mapped properly or if the wrong steps are taken first, the client may later find that foreign options are harder to pursue than expected. This is also where expectations sometimes need to be managed. Poland has effective legal tools, but it does not offer the same type of broad disclosure culture that clients may know from some common law juris - dictions. As a result, success often depends less on sweeping document production and more on building a targeted, coherent case from the information that can realistically be obtained early. In practice, that usually means two things. First, the Polish phase of the matter needs to be handled with foreign enforcement in mind. Second, clients should not wait until the case is “clearly international” before thinking across borders – by then, some of the most useful opportunities may have passed. Parallel civil and criminal proceedings are becoming the default model A further feature of the Polish market in 2026 is that serious fraud cases are increasingly run on more than one track at the same time. This is not entirely new, but it has become much more central in practice. Civil proceedings remain essential where the client wants damages, targeted recovery action or commercial control over the case. Criminal proceedings, however, may be equally important where the claimant needs rapid access to information, pressure on wrongdoers or practical support in tracing assets. The question is therefore often not whether a matter is civil or criminal, but how the two should be co-ordinated. This is particularly relevant in Poland because the sys - tem does not offer the same broad disclosure culture known from some common law jurisdictions. Claim - ants therefore often need to think more strategically about where useful information is likely to sit and which route is most likely to unlock it. In practice, a well-run fraud matter may involve a combination of internal investigation, civil preparation, criminal filings, engagement with intermediaries and, where relevant, regulatory reporting. That multi-track model is becom -
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