Few And Far The Hard Facts On Stolen Asset Recovery

Drawing on data collected between 2006 and 2012, the report provides recommendations and good practices regarding stolen asset recovery, and suggests specific actions for development agencies.

"STAR, Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, The World Bank-UNODC."

This book is a first-of-its-kind, practice-based guide of 36 key concepts?legal, operational, and practical--that countries can use to develop non-conviction based (NCB) forfeiture legislation that will be effective in combating the development problem of corruption and recovering stolen assets.

Developing countries lose billions each year through bribery, misappropriation of funds, and other corrupt practices. Much of the proceeds of this corruption find 'safe haven' in the world's financial centers. These criminal flows are a drain on social services and economic development programs, contributing to the impoverishment of the world's poorest countries. Many developing countries have already sought to recover stolen assets. A number of successful high-profile cases with creative international cooperation has demonstrated that asset recovery is possible. However, it is highly complex, involving coordination and collaboration with domestic agencies and ministries in multiple jurisdictions, as well as the capacity to trace and secure assets and pursue various legal options—whether criminal confiscation, non-conviction based confiscation, civil actions, or other alternatives. This process can be overwhelming for even the most experienced practitioners. It is exceptionally difficult for those working in the context of failed states, widespread corruption, or limited resources. With this in mind, the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative has developed and updated this Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners to assist those grappling with the strategic, organizational, investigative, and legal challenges of recovering stolen assets. A practitioner-led project, the Handbook provides common approaches to recovering stolen assets located in foreign jurisdictions, identifies the challenges that practitioners are likely to encounter, and introduces good practices. It includes examples of tools that can be used by practitioners, such as sample intelligence reports, applications for court orders, and mutual legal assistance requests. StAR—the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative—is a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds. StAR works with developing countries and financial centers to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of corruption and to facilitate more systematic and timely return of stolen assets.

This report examines the use of these entities in nearly all cases of corruption. It builds upon case law, interviews with investigators, corporate registries and financial institutions and a 'mystery shopping' exercise to provide evidence of this criminal practice.

This joint publication of the World Bank/UNODC Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports on how OECD countries are performing on asset recovery. It provides examples of good practices and recommendations for development agencies and other practitioners on achieving results.

It is a conservative estimate that every year, through corruption, between 20 billion dollars and 40 billion dollars are diverted from developing countries and find safe haven in foreign jurisdictions. In several countries that are party to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) anti-bribery convention, a very high proportion of cases of foreign bribery and related offenses have been resolved short of a full trial. Anticorruption practitioners and policy makers in countries where officials were allegedly bribed have (along with other interested stakeholders) therefore raised concerns about whether settlements might impede their own criminal or enforcement investigations and affect the liability of multinational companies in third countries. This study seeks to fill knowledge gap by: (i) informing policy makers and practitioners about the frameworks for settlements in various legal systems, (ii) examining settlements in practice and their implications for international cooperation, and (iii) analyzing how settlements relate to asset recovery in foreign bribery cases. An additional goal is to inform the general public (including civil society organizations) about these frameworks. This study describes and analyzes, both qualitatively and quantitatively, settlements in cases of foreign bribery and related offenses, and their implications for international cooperation and asset recovery. This report is structured as follows: chapter one adopts a broad definition of settlements as various procedures short of trials and analyzes the legal frameworks in a number of civil and common law countries. Chapter two traces the general trends and developments in settlements and considers the rationale for settlements. Chapter three analyzes the impact of settlements in one jurisdiction on pending and future investigations in other countries. Chapter four explores the link between asset recovery and settlements through the lens of United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Chapter five offers conclusions. Chapter six presents detailed summaries of 14 significant cases.