POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Jaroslaw Kruk and Joanna Bogdanska, KW Kruk and Partners Law Firm
1. Fraud Claims 1.1 General Characteristics of Fraud Claims Practice shows that frauds are usually crimes aimed at the unlawful seizure or extortion of funds accumulated in bank accounts, most often with the use of electronic banking. The most common type of fraud in Poland is phishing. This term is understood as an adopted method in which a criminal impersonates another person, com - pany or institution in order to extort confidential information, persuade the victim to take specific actions, or extort funds. Another type of fraud is the misappropriation of company property by its employees or members of its management board. There has also been a significant increase in investment fraud, which involves attempts to extort money. Fraudsters are constantly improv - ing the techniques they use to persuade poten - tial victims to make investments, usually offering very high profits with a supposedly low risk of losing money. In the Polish legal system, both criminal law and civil law provisions are used to combat fraud. In order to effectively pursue claims for fraud, it is entirely justified to conduct both proceed - ings (ie, civil and criminal) in principle in paral - lel, with the mutual use of evidence collected in these proceedings. Criminal proceedings play an important role in this regard, as they provide the opportunity to quickly examine the case and obtain security. In criminal proceedings, it is important that the victim of a crime promptly files a notice of suspected crime with the Public Prosecutor’s Office. It is worth noting that some evidence can only be obtained in criminal pro - ceedings – this applies in particular to evidence covered by banking, tax or telecommunications secrecy, which is of particular importance in pursuing the above-mentioned claims. Howev -
er, one should not forget the importance of civil proceedings, which give the victim of a crime the opportunity to claim damages. 1.2 Causes of Action After Receipt of a Bribe Grounds for Prosecuting the Crime of Bribery In the Polish legal system, the crime of bribery is sanctioned by criminal law. The bases for pun - ishment for this type of crime are: • passive bribery: accepting a financial or personal benefit, or a promise thereof, in connection with the performance of a public function; • active bribery: granting or promising to provide a financial or personal benefit to a person performing a public function in con - nection with the performance of this function; • paid passive protection: undertaking inter - mediation in settling a case with reference to influence (eg, in a state or local government institution, national or international organisa - tion), causing another person to believe in the existence of influence, using such a belief or confirming their belief of the existence of influence, in exchange for a financial or per - sonal benefit or a promise of such influence; and • paid active influence: granting or promising to provide a financial or personal benefit in exchange for intermediation in settling a case, consisting in unlawful influence on the deci - sion, act or omission of a person perform - ing a public function, in connection with the performance of this function. The above acts are punishable by imprisonment, and in less serious cases also a fine or restric - tion of liberty.
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