Recovering assets from large-scale corruption depends not only on strong domestic cases but also on effective international cooperation. This is particularly true when illicit funds are hidden in complex offshore structures across multiple financial centres.

The Fujimori–Montesinos case is one of Latin America’s most significant asset recovery efforts. After the regime collapsed in 2000, Peruvian authorities began tracing funds moved abroad through sophisticated financial networks spanning several jurisdictions.

From around 2014, Peru stepped up efforts to enforce confiscation decisions internationally. This shift coincided with the development of non-conviction based forfeiture and the growing use of international frameworks such as UNCAC.

Luxembourg was a key jurisdiction in these efforts, as it hosted some of the remaining accounts linked to the corrupt network. However, cooperation had to be built from the ground up. There was no bilateral agreement, no established practice for enforcing foreign confiscation orders and no diplomatic presence to facilitate engagement.

The Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) helped translate the legal possibilities under UNCAC into a practical cooperation framework between Peruvian and Luxembourg authorities. Over more than a decade, ICAR supported Peru in strengthening legal frameworks, building institutional capacity and advancing complex asset recovery cases.

This support combined technical advice with hands-on engagement, including:

• Strengthening asset recovery strategies and international cooperation practices.
• Promoting and implementing non-conviction based forfeiture frameworks.
• Developing legal strategies to enable the enforcement of Peruvian confiscation decisions abroad, including confirming through practitioner exchanges that UNCAC could serve as a sufficient legal basis.

These efforts were closely linked to reforms within Peru, where ICAR supported the development and implementation of non-conviction based forfeiture. The approach operated at two levels: strengthening domestic capacity to produce robust confiscation decisions, and supporting strategies to enforce them internationally. This alignment proved essential.

Cases such as The Blue Ridge Trust and the Hudson Trust, Southland Securities Inc. and James Stone illustrate this approach. By combining conviction-based and non- conviction based confiscation with flexible forms of international cooperation, authorities were able to navigate complex financial structures and recover illicit assets across jurisdictions.

In particular, the use of UNCAC – especially Articles 46 and 55 – as a legal basis for mutual legal assistance and the enforcement of foreign confiscation orders was instrumental. It enabled cooperation and turned legal frameworks into operational results.

Peru is now one of the most advanced and active countries in Latin America in international asset recovery. Its experience includes:

• Early large-scale restitutions from Switzerland, the United States and other jurisdictions.
• Development of domestic confiscation and non-conviction based forfeiture frameworks.
• Leadership in promoting international cooperation practices across the region. Peru’s experience has informed similar approaches in other jurisdictions.

Through ICAR, the Basel Institute continues to support authorities in Peru and elsewhere in tackling complex corruption and financial crime cases, sharing lessons learned and strengthening global asset recovery efforts.