The majority of crime is profit-driven and the most effective way to hurt criminals is to take the profits away. This will not only prevent proceeds of crime from infiltrating the legal economy, but help in upholding the rule of law principle that no one can keep proceeds of crime.
Various techniques and methods that can be utilised to improve the impact of financial investigations were analysed at the two-day EU Support to Law Enforcement Project-hosted workshop, which concluded on 8 October 2013 in Brčko. Furthermore, attending police investigators, prosecutors, judges, tax administration, and financial police officials were briefed about the functioning of asset recovery offices in the EU and management of seized property.
“Financial investigations aimed at the search, seizure and confiscation of the crime proceeds must be a component part of a decisive fight against organized crime,” said Desi Gotskova, the lecturer from the Bulgarian Commission for Asset Seizure and former EUROPOL expert.To counter sophisticated criminal activities requires continuous improvement of the systems, processes and laws allowing for BiH stakeholders to cooperate closely. Also, as the proceeds of crime recognise no borders, well-functioning mechanisms for international cooperation need to be in place.
A step ahead was made recently with the call for harmonisation of laws at four levels in BiH. “Harmonisation of laws will prevent inconsistent application of procedures for financial investigations and seizure of illegally gained assets in BiH. Furthermore, it will remove obstacles for cooperation between the police, prosecutors and judges in BiH and enhance possibilities for the international cooperation,” said Aleksander Jevšek, Long Term Expert.
While the relevant authorities are adopting these standards, the project will focus on enhancing operational capacities of the criminal justice actors in the field of asset seizure. Knowledge- and experience-sharing in this important field will help BiH authorities to develop appropriate structures and further increase national and international cooperation to ensure that criminals cannot be certain to keep the proceeds of crime.
The EU Support to Law Enforcement Project is funded by the EU in the amount of 7 million Euro from the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA 2010). The project started on 2 May 2012 and it will continue until 30 April 2014. The project consortium partners include the Ministries of Interior of the Republic of Austria, Republic of Slovenia, Hungary and of the Land Brandenburg of the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), and Transparency International BiH (as an Associate). Beneficiary partners are BiH law enforcement agencies at state, entity, cantonal and Brčko District level.
