Quoting the Central Investigation Bureau, the respected Rzeczpospolita daily reported on July 25 that "hundreds of companies and people" form an "oil mafia" in Poland and are involved in wide-scale corrupt practices, tax evasion, and credit frauds.

According to Rzeczpospolita, the losses incurred by the state treasury because of "oil mafia" activities are estimated at 10 billion zlotys ($2.5 billion).

About a dozen or so investigations into the "oil mafia" are under way in the country but investigators do not co-ordinate their work and the state is not undertaking systematic activities to recover lost assets.

(NewsBase 29.vii.02)