Every year, international corruption generates billions of dollars. Most of the assets acquired through corruption offenses will never be returned by the affected countries for the simple reason that they cannot be located.
The UNODC Program Office in the Kyrgyz Republic and INL project “Support to the Kyrgyz Republic’s efforts in the field of identification, confiscation and recovering the illicitly-acquired assets emanating from corruption activities” aims to assist the Government of Kyrgyzstan in improving the effectiveness of the national system for the identification, search, seizure and return of stolen assets , as well as the international search for stolen funds during the investigation of crimes that damage the financial interests of the country.
As part of the initiative, UNODC’ international experts Mr. Igoris Krzeckovskis and Mr. Irmantas Mikelionis, presented a draft concept for Strengthening Capacities in the Investigation and Seizure of Criminal Assets, as well as a Guide on International Legal Assistance in the Investigation, Seizure and Recovery of Criminal Assets.
These documents ware based on international standards and best practices of foreign law enforcement agencies in order to improve the efficiency of the activities of prosecutors and investigators of the Kyrgyz Republic, conducting investigations facts of corruption, drug trafficking, as well as other crimes that generate significant criminal profits.
The daily use of these tools will support significantly increase the effectiveness of protecting the financial system of the state and the interests of its citizens.
According to Mr. Kanat Asangulov, Chairman of the State Financial Intelligence Service under the Ministry of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic, the discussion of the issues of arrest, confiscation and return of stolen assets is especially relevant, with the emergence of new challenges and threats in the modern world. “We need to search for new tools for processing information related to financial crimes, and modern special methods for analyzing such information and a new level of interdepartmental interaction between our departments are required.”
To improve the quality and efficiency of financial investigations, UNODC international experts conducted training on the use of financial investigation technologies to track, search and seize stolen assets both in the Kyrgyz Republic and in foreign countries.
Particular attention during the event was paid to the practical aspects of the interaction of law enforcement agencies of the Kyrgyz Republic with foreign colleagues, the possibility of using various channels of interaction in the course of the search for stolen assets, as well as the best practice for creating national interdepartmental centers responsible for identifying and suppressing serious economic crimes at an early stage.
“During the implementation of the project, organized with the support of the US State Department's Division of International Drug Trafficking and Law Enforcement (INL), law enforcement agencies of the Kyrgyz Republic received significant support in strengthening the system for detecting, tracing and seizing criminal assets. The work on the project was done in a very active and close cooperation with national experts, in connection with which it was possible to achieve all the results set for the project. I am sure that the application of the developed methods and tools will create an effective barrier to theft and transfer abroad of both public and private assets”, said Mr. Igoris Krzeckovskis, UNODC international expert in the field of fight against money laundering and asset recovery.
This project is funded by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs/ INL.
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For more information, contact Vasilina Brazhko
Communication and PR Specialist
At UNODC Criminal Justice Programme in Central Asia
by +996775987817 WhatsApp or
vasilina.brazhko [at] un.org
