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.

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.

Shenaz Muzaffer, General Counsel of the International Association of Prosecutors, spoke at the 8th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies in a panel on “practical challenges in the investigation and prosecution of crypto-related financial crimes.” The two-day conference was co-organised by Europol and the Basel Institute on Governance and hosted by UNODC.

Latin America has seen various legislative efforts in the fight against rampant economic and organised crime and in the endeavour to recover illicit assets relating to these crimes. Among theses efforts is a wide variety of non-conviction based (NCB) forfeiture regimes and applicable standards.

NCB forfeiture allows for the recovery of illicit assets autonomously, i.e. outside of criminal proceedings, through an independent judicial process that applies civil rules and is directed against the asset itself (in rem).