Organised Crime in Poland in the 1980s and at the Beginning of the Transformation Period from the Perspective of Criminological Sciences. Criminological Initiatives to Prevent and Combat Organised Crime

. The article on Organised Crime in Poland in the 1980s and at the Beginning of the Transformation Period from the Perspective of Criminological Sciences. Criminological Initiatives to Prevent and Combat Organised Crime is divided into four main parts. They are: Introduction (Problems of Organised Crime in the People’s Republic of Poland), Organised crime at the beginning of the transition period and its assessment and Criminological initiatives to prevent and combat organised crime. The third part of the article is devoted to the most important scientific conference on organised crime, community-wide initiatives (Foundation Against Organised Crime), and the Advisory Team of the Defence Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers on Contemporary Crime. In the final part of the article (Concluding remarks), the author stresses that the expertise and previous achievements of the members of the Advisory Team of the Defence Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers (1995-1997) were allegedly taken into account in the work of the ‘Team for the Coordination of Organised Crime Surveillance Activities’ established in 1997 under the chairmanship of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration. Today, the initiative by the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro deserves special recognition for establishing on 11 July 2018 the Institute of Economic and Financial Expertise in Łódź. DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0016.0379 http://dx.doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0016.0379


Introduction Problems of organised crime in the People's Republic of Poland
During the communist period, professional and organised crime remained a taboo subject.Firstly, this was determined by ideological reasons.At the time, there was an extreme optimism -also characteristic to a certain period in the development of the Marxist criminal law doctrine -that the phenomenon of professional crime would quickly and completely disappear under the conditions of the new system.Therefore, the existence of this category of crime was concealed and not taken into account during the drafting of the penal code, the prison regulations, and the principles and techniques of criminological tactics, all adopted in 1969.

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The results of relatively scarce research in this area were ignored.A characteristic example of this can be a study conducted by Z. Bożyczko in the second half of the 1950s on the problem of pickpocketing and pickpockets in Wrocław.The results obtained unequivocally confirmed that in communist Poland, pickpocketing was the domain of professional crime. 1 One of the leading postulates formulated by Z. Bożyczko is the following statement: 'The right of the judge provided for in Article 60(2) (Penal Code of 1932 -author's note) to increase the sentence in relation to a guilty person who not only fails to meet the conditions of recidivism defined in Article 60 (1) of the Penal Code, but also has not been punished so far -seems right.' 2 This demand, which was undoubtedly addressed to the then Codification Committee preparing a project of a new penal code that would be adequate to the socialist system, was however ignored.The legislator was only interested in repeat offenders, with respect to whom criminal sanctions and the related rigours were tightened.It probably affected the later views of Z. Bożyczko, who while conducting further research, this time on burglary offenders, 'in the name of the effective and efficient fight against recidivism (Article 60 of the Penal Code of 1969)' called for the 'establishment of separate departments for recidivism -operating both during investigation and adjudication -in large cities (...) and in other centres where crime is most intense'. 3 significant attempt to draw attention to the existing phenomenon of professional crime was also made by A. Solarz.4 However, it also failed to bring the desired effect.At that time, the vast majority of sources and resources available to law enforcement authorities were targeted at investigating and combatting the so-called political crime, i.e. real and alleged activities of various opposition groups and social groups supporting them.
However, it was not only ideological concepts that marginalised the problem of professional and organised crime.Another important factor was the inextricable interconnections of the extensive black market and smuggling with various state agencies.While in the West persons involved in this type of criminal activity generally remained outside the state structures, in the communist Poland they played key roles in the state bureaucracy.They were therefore able to use their official competences to effectively conceal their criminal activities.This was made possible by a widespread system of corruption combined with extensive capabilities of manipulating the mass media.Therefore, in criminological literature, the term 'white-collar gangsters' was rightly used to describe this type of crime. 5he authorities of the People's Republic of Poland did not have any interest in encouraging academics to undertake relevant research into organised crime.
Internal Security, January-June Furthermore, researchers were fully aware of the lack of real opportunities for such initiatives.This was also combined with the isolation of scientists representing the social sciences from contact with Western European science and other capitalist countries.In this situation, criminological research focused mainly on selected crimes against property (seizure of social property6 , fraud 7 , robbery 8 ), and economic crime -since 1981, speculation has become a particular focus, including its organised forms. 9This line of research was in a way determined by the principle of increased protection of social property implemented by socialist criminal legislation. 10However, there were relatively few works addressing the problem of economic crime and economic offenders.Nevertheless, in comparison with the understanding and the significance of the concept of organised crime in Western science, the descriptions of the results of these studies in the People's Republic of Poland were rather incomplete and vague. 11

Organised crime at the beginning of the transformation period and its assessment
The period of political transformation initiated in 1989 in Poland in all areas of social life, bringing about a significant development of democratic freedoms typical for a developed market economy, also triggered an intensification of new pathological phenomena.In particular, unfavourable trends in crime intensified.New forms of economic crime appeared, not previously present in the People's Republic of Poland, which -as it turned out -thrived during the social and economic transformations of the early 1990s. 12The number and specialisation of criminal groups increased.An increasing number of crimes, including economic ones, was committed by groups in an organised and pre-planned manner. 13nternal Security, January-June It is emphasised that the Polish 'mafia', which emerged at the beginning of the 1990s, was formed in two ways: from the top -by increasingly corrupt politicians and officials who, using the 'privilege of power', took over strategic sectors of the national economy, and from the bottom -by increasingly well-organised petty criminals. 14The two groups usually meet in the middle when politicians need partners with cash to take over another attractive portion of the economy, or when criminals are looking for a cloak of legality and contacts to legalise proceeds of crime.It is connected with the phenomenon of the so-called political capitalism, which consists in linking power arrangements with the business world.This is because a privileged position means access to special loans, concessions and licences, as well as secret economic and banking information.The representatives of political capitalism prevent the creation of laws without loopholes that would make it possible to fight crime. 15M. Biernacki, a liquidator of the property of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), also commented on this issue: 'If one could speak (...) about the mafia in Poland, it would rather be a mafia of post-communist politicians and former officers of communist secret services and not an ‚ordinary' criminal mafia.(...) It is worth remembering that profits made by gangsters from criminal acts are in any case insignificant in comparison with the profits made by people from the former political establishment during economic transformation, e.g.thanks to earlier access to information about exchange rate fluctuations or changes in customs rates". 16t is worth noting that contemporary issues of organised crime in the People's Republic of Poland were extensively referred to by participants of a nationwide academic conference entitled 'Gangsters of the People's Republic of Poland.Organised crime in communist Poland.The 1970s and 1980s' , organised in 2016 by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) -Branch in Gdańsk. 17Historians, criminologists, sociologists, lawyers, culture experts and journalists attended the conference which offered an opportunity to look at this phenomenon from a broad interdisciplinary perspective.The forum resulted in an interesting publication consisting of eighteen studies and a transcript of the discussion with investigative journalists and a representative of the Gdańsk branch of the Institute of National Remembrance. 18n the first years of the transformation period, the International Conference organised in 1993 by the 'Europe 2000' Foundation and the Senate of the Republic of Poland entitled 'Organised crime and terrorism in post-communist countries' was undoubtedly an important event.19 Its participants stressed, among other things, that the specificity of this crime in Poland and other post-communist countries is expressed in the existence of links with the former communist authorities (especially with special services of the People's Republic of Poland).20 Organised crime in western countries exploits the legal and economic loopholes left by the state.Organised crime in the former Eastern Bloc emerges largely from the actions of people who lost power.
These issues were also discussed at the Second National Legal Days. 21Their participants passed a resolution in which, in paragraph 4, they state: 'We see the need to determine the objectives and trends of privatisation consistent with Polish economic interests and the Polish raison d'état.Controversies and doubts arise over the effectiveness of the current legal solutions'.This message was all the more important in view of the fact that at the beginning of the 1990s, alongside the 'old' economic crime, a new type of crime appeared in Poland, referred to in the literature as economic and financial crime. 22t the same time, the new political and economic realities led to a rapid demythologisation of organised crime.These events revealed 'uncharted territories' in the sphere of criminal law regulations, as well as the lack of a developed practice of law enforcement authorities in combatting this phenomenon.Under these conditions, in the initial phase of political transformation, the importance of this problem was not properly recognised.There were also numerous opinions that with the development of a market economy, economic crimes would be at least significantly reduced.This conviction was a manifestation of the belief in social automatism, which was also characteristic of the early stage of development of the People's Republic of Poland.In this situation, there was ample scope for 'political visionaries' to promote ideas facilitating the unrestrained development of organised crime, especially of an economic nature.
A particularly significant example of this was the political decision to close down the Bureau for Combatting Economic Crimes of the National Militia Headquarters, implemented in August 1990, i.e. at the time of the greatest need for its activities. 23The economic crime departments (headed by the Economic Crime Bureau at the National Police Headquarters) were re-established in 1992, while as of 21 December 1993, the Bureau for Combatting Organised Crime was established at the National Police Headquarters.
The first statistical data on organised crime was not compiled until 1995, when the so-called Milczanowski report was prepared, which was also briefly made public.Selected information from this document was presented in the Polish report on economic and organised crime prepared for the 9th UN Congress in Cairo devoted to the problem of crime prevention and the treatment of offenders. 24nternal Security, January-June The insufficient scientific research into the area of organised crime resulted in erroneous assessments and conclusions, also among theorists, sometimes based on common and outdated stereotypes.In particular, they were proved to misunderstand the problem of organised crime and the need for a specific approach to its criminalisation.For example, A. Marek and E. Pływaczewski proposed to introduce a provision to the general part of the Penal Code that would provide for an extraordinary aggravation of punishment in cases when a crime is used as a regular source of income. 25This proposal attracted unjustified criticism in criminological circles. 26Finally, this proposal was taken into account at the meeting of the Criminal Law Team of the Codification Commission on 18 October 1990 and was included in Article 61 of the draft Penal Code of November 1990, and implemented in the current Penal Code of 1997. 27evertheless, it can be concluded that in the 1990s, there was a systematic increase in the literature on the issues of organised crime, especially since the phenomenon began to be perceived as a serious problem posing a threat to the economic and political interests of the state by criminologists and the mass media, as well as politicians and law enforcement and justice system practitioners.

First scientific conference on organised crime
The idea of organising a scientific conference on organised crime was discussed in 1990 at the Police Academy in Szczytno, after the first publication concerning this issue in Poland. 29The escalation of organised crime in this country gave rise tion of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (Cairo, Egypt, 29 April -8 May 1995).Warsaw: Oficyna Naukowa, 1995, pp.7 Pursuant to Article 65(1) of the Penal Code of 1997, 'The provisions on the assessment of punishment, penal measures and measures related to putting the perpetrator on probation, provided for perpetrators defined in Article 64(2) (i.e.multiple offenders) shall also apply to an offender who has turned committing a crime into a regular source of income or commits a crime acting in an organised criminal group or association having as its purpose the commission of a crime, as well as to a terrorist' . 28See: Pływaczewski E, Przestępczość zorganizowana z punktu widzenia teorii, polityki i praktyki, [in:] Pływaczewski E (Ed.), Przestępczość zorganizowana -Świadek koronny -Terroryzm w ujęciu praktycznym.Kraków: Kantor Wydawniczy Zakamycze, 2005, pp.91-124. 29 to a number of questions that were important for the operation of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, particularly in terms of the possibilities for its effective counteraction.Are the level and main trends of the crime threat known?Do law enforcement authorities and the justice administration have sufficient measures for disclosing, preventing and prosecuting this crime?Is it possible to describe a system of criminal law protection against organised crime in the context of existing solutions in the Polish legislation?How is this problem addressed in the law and practice of other countries and is it possible to develop an effective international strategy to combat this crime?Finally, the international conference which was held on 26-27 September 1991 on 'Legal and Criminological Aspects of Organised Crime' at the Police Academy in Szczytno, turned the idea of organising such a scientific forum into reality. 30It is worth mentioning that the Summit Conference was the first forum of its kind in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that were building a new social and democratic order.The following topics were discussed at the conference: -organised crime and international criminal law, -economic crime during the transition to a market economy, -organised crime in Western Europe in the light of recent criminological research, -selected aspects of international drug trafficking, -international waste transport as a potential type of organised crime, -organised crime in other former Eastern Bloc countries, -detecting and collecting evidence by the police in the context of trafficking in stolen cars, -Interpol and transnational organised crime, -crime prevention in relation to organised crime.All conference participants agreed that the current structure of crime in Poland, especially in its organised forms, requires large-scale research in order to provide a basis for more effective counteracting of this alarming phenomenon.The key point of the conference, however, was the adoption of a resolution in which the conference participants called for: -dissemination of information on the threats posed by organised crime, both to representatives of state authorities and local government bodies, as well as to the public; -taking urgent steps to establish and adequately equip central police agencies, specialised in combatting economic crime, which would be able to cooperate with similar organisations in other countries, in particular with agencies of Western European democratic countries with extensive experience and Europol; -continuing research and exchange of experience on individual most significant aspects of organised crime, such as: a) organised large-scale financial and economic crime; b) smuggling of drugs, motor vehicles, works of art, weapons, alcohol, etc., across Polish borders; c) organisational and technical problems of prevention and detection of organised crime by the Police and other law enforcement authorities; d) the problems of finding evidence in organised crime cases and the relevance of penal-procedural instruments in this respect; e) the adaptation of Polish criminal and criminal fiscal legislation to effectively combat various forms of organised crime, which is particularly urgent in view of the pending legislative work. 31

Community-wide initiatives: Foundation Against Organised Crime
One of the outcomes of the conference discussed above was that on 5 March 1992, the 'Foundation for Counteracting Organised Crime' was registered, which was highly appreciated by the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland and the Office of the Council of Ministers 32 .The Foundation was named after Judge Giovanni Falcone who devoted his entire life to the fight against the Mafia and was murdered.The purpose of the Foundation was to initiate, adopt and support all measures that could be applied in the fight against organised crime, in particular: -assisting and supporting law enforcement authorities and the judiciary in carrying out their tasks related to the aim of the Foundation; -cooperation with national and foreign research institutes and experts who deal with this phenomenon, as well as with churches and religious associations and the mass media; -conducting, supporting and promoting research work related to the objectives and research problems of the Foundation; -supporting the latest developments in the field of measures to combat organised crime; -engaging scientists and practitioners interested in these issues in the work of the Foundationkjkkjmmmmk; -inspiring and supporting legislative initiatives aimed at counteracting organised crime; -disseminating information on the dangers posed by organised crime 33 .Some of the results of this foundation's work are presented below.The first significant result of the foundation's activities was co-organising an international conference on car theft in 1992 in cooperation with the Police Academy in Szczytno.Apart from representatives of institutions such as the Police, Border Guard, customs services and insurance companies, the conference was attended by official delegations from 14 countries of Western Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.The debates were held in three working groups, the first of which dealt with technical and tactical measures for preventing and 31 Ibid., pp.201-202. 32Pływaczewski E, Fundacja Przeciwdziałania Przestępczości Zorganizowanej im.Giovanniego Falcone i polskie inicjatywy w walce przeciwko przestępczości zorganizowanej.Szczytno: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Policji, 1994. 33Pływaczewski E, Fundacja Przeciwdziałania Przestępczości Zorganizowanej im.Giovanniego Falcone.Szczytno: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Policji, 1994.combatting vehicle crime.The second group discussed international cooperation in preventing and combatting crimes related to illegal car trafficking.The third working group discussed legal and criminological issues relating to the illegal car trade.
The conference was both theoretical and practical.A number of assessments were made, and numerous loopholes in the legal regulations and the legal practice were identified.The participants agreed that the correction of these deficiencies would lead to the strengthening of the legal and physical protection of the vehicle.The most important conclusions resulting from the conference were conveyed by the organisers to the Head of the Office of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Internal Affairs, and the National Police Chief. 34n 1993, the Giovanni Falcone Foundation for Counteracting Organised Crime, together with the Scientific Society for Organisation and Management -'Organiser's House' in Toruń decided to organise an international conference on 'How to prevent money laundering', 35 under the patronage of the President of the National Bank of Poland.The conference featured the promotion of the first monograph in the Polish literature on this subject. 36he conference organisers achieved three primary objectives: -based on the experience of other countries, the problem of money laundering was presented, as well as the related threats to the economic system and state and social institutions, -an attempt was made to develop an optimal model of cooperation between financial institutions and state authorities in the field of preventing and combatting money laundering, -and a general strategy for counteracting this phenomenon was considered with reference to Western European and global experience.Two hundred participants attended the conference in Mikołajki, including international experts from six Western countries (representing France, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden), as well as representatives of banks and other financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and the academic community. 37It is worth mentioning that foreign experts, referring to the existing systems of their respective countries, did not only present the normative record but also pointed out the shortcomings, highlighted the existing gaps and warned against adopting one or another solution.In other words, they did not only mention their successes, but also the difficulties encountered in introducing new institutions and making them active.
In the context of postulative actions, the conference participants adopted a resolution in which, among others, they stated that in order to effectively counteract money laundering which at that time was a new phenomenon in Polish conditions, the following actions are necessary: establishment of an inter-ministerial committee consisting of the Minister of Justice, President of the National Bank of Poland, Minister of Finance, Minister of Internal Affairs, National Police Chief and President of the Main Customs Office, whose task would be both to assess the phenomenon of money laundering in Poland and to take the necessary measures to achieve full implementation of FATF recommendations, 38 as well as to implement recommendations of this organisation concerning tightening and activating international cooperation in this area, -enhancing and diversifying the forms of specialist training for bank employees and law enforcement bodies in the field of preventing money laundering.Another particularly important scientific initiative devoted to new criminal phenomena in Poland, which was organised by the G. Falcone Foundation for the Prevention of Organised Crime, was the international scientific conference on 'Legal aspects of fraud committed with the use of modern information processing technologies'. 39The conference was co-organised by the Scientific Society of Organisation and Management -Organiser's House in Toruń, the Police Academy in Szczytno, the Foundation for Counteracting Computer Crime and the Bureau for Combatting Organised Crime of the National Police Headquarters.The conference was held under the auspices of the Council of Europe and under the patronage of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General of Poland. 40he conference initiated a public discussion on various types of threats associated with computing.An assessment was made of the current state of legal solutions in the field of counteracting computer abuse, as well as in the planned legislative changes in this area in comparison with the European normative standards.Representatives of Polish computer companies and banking sector were updated on Western European experience in the field of effective combatting of software piracy and protection of banking systems against computer abuse.They also discussed the principles of the legal protection of business information and personal data in the context of the Polish legislation and drafts of new legal acts.At the same time, conclusions and practical recommendations from the conference were drawn, covering computer abuse in Poland, relations between computing and law, international aspects, substantive and procedural criminal law, protection of computer programmes and combatting piracy and protection of bank information as well as of personal data. 38In particular, it was a matter of implementing Recommendation 30 by setting up a joint team or body to collect, exchange and use the information sent from banks and to decide whether to send it to the prosecutor's office. 39Poznań, 20-22 April 1994. 40See: Adamski A (Ed.), Prawne aspekty nadużyć popełnianych z wykorzystaniem nowoczesnych technologii przetwarzania danych.Legal Aspects of Computer-Related Abuse.Materiały z Konferencji Naukowej.Poznań, Poland, 20-22 April.Toruń: Wydawnictwo TNOiK, 1994.
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Advisory Team of the Defence Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers on Contemporary Crime
The Advisory Team of the Defence Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers on Contemporary Crime (hereinafter: the Advisory Team) was established by Decision No. 4/95 of the Chairman of the Defence Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers of 2 October 1995. 41Having investigated the characteristics, level and developmental trends of crime in Poland, the Advisory Team developed the 'Statement on activities in the field of combatting organised crime'.
In view of the increase in the level and emergence of new types of organised economic crime and minor offences, including crimes related to economic turnover, the Advisory Team pointed out, inter alia, the urgent need to establish an Economic and Financial Expertise Unit.This postulate, put forward in March 1996, emphasised the necessity of creating on the part of law enforcement authorities and the judiciary a counterbalance for the professional support provided to the criminal world by specialists in law, finance and economics.In addition, this would lead to the establishment of 'experts for the prosecution' , prepared to effectively argue in court cases with 'private experts' , working for the economic underworld.This concept assumed that the Department would report to the Minister of Justice, which was supported by the fact that it would mainly issue opinions for courts and the prosecution service.Moreover, such a move would eliminate accusations of lack of objectivity that could be raised if it were placed in the competence of the Ministry of the Interior.The aforementioned Department should, of course, have been financed by the Ministry of Justice, having increased the budget of the ministry to include the expenditure for this department.The expertise and previous achievements of the members of the Advisory Team of the Defence Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers were allegedly taken into account in the work of the 'Team for the Coordination of Organized Crime Surveillance Activities' established in 1997 under the chairmanship of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration. 42he implementation of the concept outlined above would undoubtedly improve criminal proceedings in cases of economic crimes and would have an impact on reducing the costs of proceedings due to the standard of expert opinions.Nevertheless, the proposal to establish the Department of Economic and Financial Expertise, despite strong support from the Ministry of Justice, for a long time (until 2019) remained no more than a proposal.Today, the initiative by the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro deserves special recognition for establishing on 11 July 2018 the Institute of Economic and Financial Expertise in Łódź.The Institute started its activities in 2019.It is a state budget unit that conducts scientific and research and development activities in the field of economics, finance, accounting, taxation and customs, capital markets, banking and insurance, business operations and financing, ownership transformations and economic cybercrime.The Institute prepares 41 It consisted of professors: Hubert Kołecki (chairman), Tadeusz Hanausek (1931-2002), Stanisław Hoc, Stanisław Pikulski (1945-2016), Emil Pływaczewski, Andrzej Siemaszko  (1950-2021) and Karol Sławik (1937-2012). 42This information was sent in July 1997 by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister to all members of the Advisory Panel with 'heartfelt thanks for the cooperation' .expert opinions at the request of courts, prosecutors' offices and other entities entitled to conduct proceedings on the basis of legal acts, during which expert evidence is admissible. 43

Concluding remarks
During the communist period, professional and organised crime were concealed and were not taken into account during the drafting of the penal code, the prison regulations, and the principles and techniques of criminological tactics, all adopted in 1969.The issue was perceived with extreme optimism, which was also characteristic of a certain period in the development of Marxist criminal law doctrine, assuming that the phenomenon of professional crime would quickly and completely disappear under the new systemic conditions.
It was only new political and economic realities that led to a rapidly progressing de-mythologisation of the phenomenon of organised crime.In 1989, the systemic transformation was initiated, leading to the development of a democratic society and a market economy.These events revealed 'uncharted territories' in the sphere of criminal law regulations, as well as the lack of a developed practice of law enforcement authorities in combatting this phenomenon.At the beginning of the transformation period in the 1990s, there was a systematic increase in the focus on the issues of organised crime, especially since the phenomenon began to be perceived as a serious problem posing a threat to the economic and political interests of the state by criminologists and the mass media, as well as politicians and law enforcement and justice system practitioners.Organised crime also penetrated the state apparatus.
Poland was the first country in the former socialist camp to take initiatives aimed at preventing and combatting organised crime.Of particular importance were international conferences on legal and criminological aspects of organised crime (Szczytno 1991), car theft (Szczytno 1992), money laundering (1993) and legal aspects of fraud committed with the use of modern information processing technologies (Poznań 1994).
A significant role in initiating, adopting and supporting all measures that could be applied in the fight against organised crime was also played by communitywide initiatives (Foundation Against Organised Crime) and activities by the Advisory Team of the Defence Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers on Contemporary Crime (1995-1997).The Advisory Team developed the 'Statement on activities in the field of combatting organised crime'.This Statement pointed out, inter alia, the urgent need to establish an Economic and Financial Expertise Unit.The implementation of the concept outlined above would undoubtedly improve criminal proceedings in cases of economic crimes and would have an impact on reducing the costs of proceedings due to the standard of expert opinions.The expertise and previous achievements of the members of the Advisory Team were allegedly taken into account in the work of the 'Team 43 Electronic source: www.gov.pl/sprawiedliwosc/naukowe-wsparcie-dla-sadow-i-prokuratury-rusza-instytut-ekspertyz-ekonomicznych-i-finasowych,accessed: 22.01.2022.
for the Coordination of Organized Crime Surveillance Activities' established in 1997 under the chairmanship of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration.However, the recommendation to establish the Department of Economic and Financial Expertise, despite strong support from the Ministry of Justice, for a long time remained no more than a proposal.And, in view of the above,there arises a question -why more than 20 years had had to elapse before such an important postulate, worked out by a team of leading Polish criminologists and criminologists, was implemented...