Written in the light of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, this Working Paper explores whether it is justifiable to confiscate assets frozen under financial sanctions in order to redirect them to the victims of state aggression.
The paper first explores the concept of sanctions and financial sanctions (asset freezes) and what they mean in practice.
Non-conviction based forfeiture (NCBF) laws allow courts to confiscate assets of a criminal nature, even where no conviction has been obtained in relation to criminal conduct.
They have existed for many years in several countries in a wide variety of forms, and complement other asset recovery mechanisms. Yet this diversity – and the fact that many countries still do not have or use such laws – leads to challenges with their application, especially in cases with an international element.
This case study explains how the Peruvian State used its non-conviction based forfeiture law, extinción de dominio, to recover a Swiss bank account containing illicit kickbacks paid for the purchase of war planes.
This case was the first of a series of cases between Peru and Switzerland involving Peru’s extinción de dominio law, which enables the confiscation of illicit assets in cases where a criminal conviction of an individual is not possible or desirable. It has paved the way for other proceedings, some of which are still pending in the tribunals.
Anti-corruption and asset recovery specialists in Kenya, Sierra Leone and Zambia have taken an important step forward in developing their ability to recover the proceeds of financial and other serious crime.
This short report summarises key recommendations from the Lisbon Conference on non-conviction based forfeiture (NCBF) as a tool for asset recovery, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal on 5–7 July 2022. The conference gathered high-level representatives from Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Timor-Leste, together with international experts.
The recommendations include:
Peru’s first National Convention of Prosecutors Specialised in Extinción de Dominio brought together 80 prosecutors, lawyers, police officers and other justice practitioners to share experiences on the application of Peru’s extinción de dominio law.
Extinción de dominio is a form of non-conviction based forfeiture (NBCF) law common in Latin America. It allows the State to confiscate illicit assets where a criminal conviction is not possible in relation to the specific crime generating those assets.
At a regional meeting of legal practitioners, politicians and academics from selected Latin American countries and Spain, participants converged on the need for a strong human rights focus in non-conviction based forfeiture (NCBF) laws – laws that allow the confiscation of assets without a criminal conviction.
Environmental criminals and their corrupt facilitators get rich by destroying our planet and its natural resources. This publication for the Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project explains how and why to confiscate their illicit assets – with or without a criminal conviction.
Anti-corruption investigators and prosecutors from Kenya, Sierra Leone and Zambia joined experts from our International Centre for Asset Recovery on 16–18 November to share experiences of non-conviction based forfeiture (NCBF) laws in their countries.