How to put confiscated criminal assets to good use?
Reply to Recommendation
| Doc. 15716
| 20 February 2023
- Author(s):
- Committee of Ministers
- Origin
- Adopted at the 1456th meeting
of the Ministers’ Deputies (8 February 2023). 2023 - March Standing Committee
- Reply to Recommendation
- : Recommendation 2229
(2022)
1. The Committee of Ministers has carefully
examined Parliamentary Assembly
Recommendation 2229 (2022) “How
to put confiscated criminal assets to good use?” and communicated
it to the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Conference
of the Parties to the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and
Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of
Terrorism (CETS No. 198) and the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation
of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL),
for information and possible comments.
2. The Committee is in full agreement with the Assembly that
the fight against organised crime and corruption could be enhanced
through systematic confiscation of assets of illegal origin. Making
good use of confiscated assets may be beneficial for society as
a whole, either by financing specific capacity-building projects
or by compensating affected populations or areas.
3. The Assembly rightly points out the important work accomplished
by GRECO and MONEYVAL. It is worth recalling that GRECO devoted
part of its Second Evaluation Round (2003-2005) to the identification, seizure
and confiscation of corruption proceeds. GRECO recommended strengthening
national legislation and practice to enable the confiscation of
the instrumentalities and proceeds of corruption offences, and providing the
responsible authorities with the necessary expertise and resources
for achieving effective confiscation. As GRECO has not yet covered
the use of confiscated illegal assets, the Committee of Ministers
invites it to follow developments in this regard and to consider,
within the scope of its mandate, this aspect in its future work.
The Committee further informs the Assembly that the Conference of
the Parties to the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and
Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of
Terrorism (CETS No. 198) adopted a Thematic Monitoring Review on
Article 6 of the convention (management of frozen or seized property)
in November 2022.
4. As regards paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Assembly’s recommendation,
the Committee of Ministers informs the Assembly that the above-mentioned
Committee of the Parties recently held a Joint Session with the Committee
of Experts on the Operation of European Conventions on Co-operation
in Criminal Matters (PC-OC) on the topics of non-conviction based
confiscation, the sharing, management and re-use of confiscated
assets, and the seizure and confiscation of virtual currencies.
The Joint Session examined a 2019 study carried out by the PC-OC
on the possible added value and feasibility of preparing a new binding
instrument of the Council of Europe on international co-operation
as regards the management, recovery and sharing of assets proceeding from
crime, and agreed that a proposal to begin this work should be submitted
to the Committee of Ministers. The Committee will examine such a
proposal.
5. Finally, the Committee recalls its new Action Plan for Ukraine
“Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026, which contains
a section on fighting corruption, economic crime and cybercrime,
aimed at supporting the Ukrainian authorities in assessing, mitigating
and managing economic crime risks including those associated with
corruption, money laundering and financing of terrorism. One of
the proposed actions concerns effective asset tracing, seizure,
confiscation, recovery, and management. In the implementation, the Committee
invites the relevant services to bear in mind the elements set out
in Assembly
Resolution
2434 (2022).