Although the EU has put in place measures to facilitate the return of the proceeds of crime, they remain largely ineffective, according to a new report by Transparency International, published on Wednesday 11 September.
The report focuses mainly on the recovery of revenue from grand corruption, e.g. the misappropriation of public funds by high-level officials in non-Member States.
Only 2.2% of the proceeds of crime are seized and 1.1% are confiscated. What is the reason for this poor record? According to Transparency International, one of the main reasons for this is that the ability of the EU or Member States to freeze, confiscate and return assets generally depends on the willingness and ability of non-Member States to cooperate. In some cases, weak judicial systems or corrupt regimes hinder European efforts, the organisation points out.
“The EU needs to rethink its overall approach to asset recovery. It should focus on greater effectiveness and autonomy from non-Member States”, said Laure Brillaud, responsible for anti-money laundering issues for Transparency International EU, who also co-authored the report.
Adopting an EU-wide horizontal anti-corruption sanctions regime would, according to the organisation, facilitate the freezing of assets belonging to people involved in grand corruption.
Unlike the current sanctions regimes against the misappropriation of funds in Tunisia, Egypt or the Ukraine, a horizontal anti-corruption sanctions regime would be global in scope and would therefore allow the EU to separate the decision to sanction an individual's misconduct from considerations relating to the political situation and relations with that individual's country of origin, she explained.
According to Transparency International, the current gap between EU freezing orders and the subsequent confiscation and return of frozen assets, which remain the responsibility of national authorities, must also be addressed.
The organisation also advocates the establishment of legal instruments to facilitate the freezing and confiscation of stolen assets, without requiring prior conviction of the owner of the assets in all EU Member States. Such instruments already exist in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy and even in Bulgaria, she said.
See the report: http://bit.ly/2kgsGcm (Marion Fontana)