Poland

AFTER THE COLLAPSE of the Soviet Union, Poland moved with alacrity to establish a marketoriented economy. The transition was problematic. While elected officials were instituting new legal frameworks for business, including commercial codes, and tort, civil and contract law, white collar and organized criminal gangs in Poland quickly garnered significant profits through a wide array of illicit activities.

Like other former Soviet Union-dominated communist countries throughout Eastern Europe, Polish regulators and law enforcement agencies were ill-equipped to differentiate between legitimate and illegal profit-seeking activities, especially in an era where legal and regulatory standards were slowly evolving. As a result, white-collar and organized crime flourished in Poland throughout the 1990s, and efforts to combat criminal activities were sporadic and ineffectual.

Despite increased efforts to combat criminal activity, Poland ...