Congratulations to our partners at the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Malawi for achieving the final forfeiture of a house linked to the infamous Cashgate corruption scandal.
A decision by the Supreme Court to reject an appeal against the forfeiture order sends an important message about ending impunity for high-profile corruption.
In an article published in the Fall 2024 issue of the Bulletin of the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators, Oscar Solórzano describes an asset recovery case between Peru and Luxembourg involving a businessman named James Stone.
A recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) addresses two significant weaknesses in the effectiveness of EU sanctions enforcement.
First, it makes it clear that an EU-wide ban on “brokering services” for military goods to or from Russia applies even when these goods do not physically enter EU territory.
Grand corruption and asset recovery cases are generally transnational and require both informal and formal international cooperation at every stage. Yet despite laudable efforts to smoothen international cooperation, there are still many obstacles to overcome.
This summary report examines gender-related aspects within the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) programme in Mozambique as relevant for programme management and delivery. The research also explored potential gender considerations within anti-corruption and asset recovery laws and policies.
The findings and recommendations developing a gender-sensitive framework for technical assistance programmes are relevant beyond the Mozambique case study.
Financial intelligence is the staple food of investigations into corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes.
Much financial intelligence is held by private-sector institutions such as banks and other financial service providers. How does that get into the hands of law enforcement, where it can trigger or inform investigations? And how can we improve the system?
The 13th Public Edition of the Basel AML Index highlights a gradual improvement in national systems to counter money laundering – at least in terms of technical compliance with global standards, and among countries with long-standing weaknesses. But the effectiveness of anti-money laundering systems in practice remains alarmingly low in the face of evolving threats from fraud and other complex, often transnational financial crimes.
Guernsey has confiscated nearly half a million dollars in criminal proceeds on behalf of Colombia in the Latin American country’s first successful international asset recovery case using its non-conviction based forfeiture law.
Few disagree that asset recovery plays an important role in the fight against crime – but recovering assets in practice means balancing complex priorities and issues around justice, legality and human rights.
To effectively combat organised and financial crime, it is often necessary for countries to establish multi-agency asset recovery task forces, which could also be understood as joint investigation teams/units. The teams are made up of personnel from various agencies in the criminal justice system to effectively investigate financial crime and recover laundered assets.