Recovery of Stolen Assets The St AR Initiative

Recovery of Stolen Assets The St. AR Initiative: An Overview EAMJA-KIGALI May 24, 2012

What is St. AR 2 The Stolen Asset Recovery (St. AR) Initiative, is a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It was established in 2007 St. AR provides technical assistance to developing countries to facilitate a more systematic and timely return of corruptly acquired assets

What does St. AR do? St. AR provides technical assistance to requesting countries by : -providing training and capacity building, -assisting countries in the stolen asset recovery process policy analysis and knowledge building- publications Support global and anti-corruption agenda

Basic Principles 4 . UNCAC: The return of assets is a fundamental principle of this Convention, and States Parties shall afford one another the widest measure of cooperation and assistance in this regard At a preventive level, there is need for: Public sector good governance – public financial management, public procurement Income and asset disclosure for senior public officials Effective AML framework – prevention, detection, repression, international cooperation

Why does Asset Recovery matter? 5 Political case Accountability and legitimacy Social and political stability Public interest vs. private gains Developmental case Corruption and bad governance hinder development Asset recovery as “acid test” of whole-of-government approach to good governance Deterrence case No safe havens Virtuous circle prevention / repression Collective action case Nations benefit mutually from international cooperation

Building on traditional institutions 6 The law enforcement set up—investigation, prosecution, adjudication, internal and external government audits, financial intelligence units, specialized anti-corruption agencies, fora for national cooperation and informationsharing, etc. Judicial powers: Freezing, warrants, seizures, management of assets Mutual Legal Assistance Confiscation and asset return Civil recovery --Damages, restitution for legitimate owner Adjudication in criminal prosecution

Important considerations for EAMJA 7 Trust and networking Promote personal contacts among relevant officials– liaison among magistrates / judges, police attachés—attend regional and int’l fora, participate in regional and int’l networks Comprehensive Asset Recovery policy Make Asset Recovery a policy priority Ensure asset recovery legislation is comprehensive and adequate Create specialized investigative units / courts to focus on stolen assets Resources Commit resources, develop capacity and expertise, communicate about sharing of costs and recovered assets

International networking for operational process 8 Law enforcement focal points Identify primary and secondary focal points--provide clear and updated information on judicial websites, encourage networking with other similar associations e, g common wealth judges association etc St. AR/Interpol Initiative for countries to provide focal points for exchange of information 24/7 basis open to members Seek St. AR assistance as a honest broker- St. AR plays a facilitating role and convening powers

Initiating St. AR assistance 9 þ Make a request to the Coordinator –St. AR Initiative at þ þ the contact addresses provided St. AR will often undertake a needs assessment; the implementation process will be agreed thereafter In the case of the EAMJA--request already received for capacity building While this will be arranged and provided as appropriate, St. AR’s emphasis is on country engagements for a more focused approach Anticipated that EAMJA will cascade to country requests

10 Thank you For more information please contact Jean Pesme--St. AR coordinator at: jpesme@worldbank. org www. worldbank. org/star www. track. unodc. org