Not everyone realises that money laundering can involve more than just legalising funds through specific complex activities such as buying property as a ‘front man’. Even seemingly trivial activities, such as accepting money and depositing it into an account or transferring funds between accounts, can lead to charges. Such individuals are referred to as money mules due to their role in the money laundering process.

Can you get into trouble for doing a friend a favour by keeping money in your bank account?

Section 299 § 1 of the Criminal Code, which introduces the offence of money laundering, specifies the activities that constitute such an offence. These include the acceptance and possession of goods derived from the proceeds of a prohibited act.

Let us imagine a situation where a friend approaches us with an urgent request. For certain reasons, they ask us to deposit a large amount of cash into our bank account. Another example could be a ‘great’ opportunity to earn money online posted on a social networking site.

This is where the saying ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ comes in handy, because from a technical point of view, it is sufficient to accept such funds into your bank account, and:

• the financial mule does not have to attempt to introduce dirty money into legal circulation
• (Supreme Court Judgment – Criminal Chamber of 28 February 2023, V KK 629/21).
• In this case, a finding of money laundering does not even require concealing the criminal source of the funds from law enforcement authorities
• (Resolution of the Seven Judges of the Supreme Court – Criminal Chamber of 24 June 2015, I KZP 5/15).

Does accepting funds derived from crime ‘contaminate’ other funds legally held in a bank account?

Continuing with the example of a friend in need, let us assume that he asks us to deposit/transfer PLN 100,000 to our account.

The bank account already contains PLN 50,000 saved for a rainy day. Will the transfer/deposit of cash result in the sum of PLN 150,000 being classified as money laundering?

This issue was resolved by the Supreme Court in a resolution adopted in 2015. The fact that funds derived from crime are deposited into a bank account does not automatically mean that the remaining money is considered laundered (Resolution of the Seven Judges of the Supreme Court – Criminal Chamber of 24 June 2015, I KZP 5/15).

When they want to saddle us…

If we notice that someone is probably trying to involve us in money laundering, it is worth considering reporting the crime, although this is not mandatory. As a rule, in Polish criminal proceedings there is only a so-called social obligation, and money laundering is not among the crimes covered by the exception, i.e. those for which there is criminal liability for failure to notify law enforcement authorities.

However, if your bank account has already been used as a money laundering vehicle, then following the maxim that the best defence is attack, reporting the crime is absolutely necessary in order to protect yourself from the negative consequences of allowing such a situation to occur.

Author: apl. adw. Michał Busz