POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Jaroslaw Kruk and Joanna Bogdanska, KW Kruk and Partners Law Firm
ties Who Assist or Facilitate Fraudulent Acts . Indeed, money laundering is considered to be any activity that aims to introduce into the legal mar - ketplace assets that come from illegal sources. Lost Funds as Material Evidence It is beneficial for the victim of the crime of fraud if the prosecutor’s office considers the funds lost by said victim as a result of fraud as material evidence. When the prosecutor’s office finds that this evidence is unnecessary for further pro - ceedings, it may release it, which will enable the victim to recover the funds. 1.6 Rules of Pre-Action Conduct Out-of-Court Resolution Civil procedure Before bringing an action for damages as a result of a fraudulent act, the party who intends to bring the action should attempt to resolve the dispute out of court. An example of such an action is to issue a demand for payment to the entity that will be the defendant in the event of the claim, indicating a deadline by which it must respond to the demand in question. Criminal procedure The criminal procedure does not provide for ami - cable proceedings before a case is filed. Before filing a report of a suspected crime, all actions are undertaken already within the framework of the ongoing proceedings; only within the scope of this procedure is it possible to make any attempt at negotiation. Summons It is advisable to start by issuing a summons, as a summoned party may make an effort to reach a settlement in the case, thus avoiding litigation and reducing the costs of proceedings.
may not be longer than ten years from the date on which the event causing the damage occurred; and • 20 years from the date on which the crime was committed if the damage resulted from a crime or a misdemeanour (in which case it is irrelevant whether criminal proceedings have previously been instituted and penalties imposed). 1.5 Proprietary Claims Against Property Rules Regarding the Procedure for the Recovery of Funds A basic principle that is of vital importance when a victim claims restitution is the need to prove ownership of the funds that were lost as a result of the fraud. It is therefore necessary to submit to the Public Prosecutor’s Office any evidence and documents in one’s possession that will prove ownership of these funds. If the fraudu - lent funds are commingled with other funds in the offender’s accounts, recovery will be difficult but not impossible. Where there is only one victim and said victim proves ownership of the lost funds, as above, recovery will be possible. However, the situa - tion becomes more complicated when there are many victims in the case and the funds blocked in the offender’s accounts are not sufficient to satisfy all the victims. In such cases, prosecu - tors sometimes apply a proportional division of the blocked funds depending on the amount of funds lost by each victim, but more often, due to the complicated nature of the case, the case is taken to court for further proceedings. In such a case, recovery requires lengthy negotiations first with the prosecutor and then with the court. When the funds obtained from the crime are further invested, the crime involves money laun - dering, as indicated in 1.3 Claims Against Par-
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