The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released amendments to its recommendations, aiming to empower law enforcement, financial intelligence units, prosecutors, and asset recovery practitioners in targeting and confiscating criminal assets more effectively. The revisions address the rapid movement of assets across borders facilitated by technology, introducing new tools, closing loopholes, and emphasizing actions to capture criminal proceeds promptly.
Expressing concern over insufficient efforts to confiscate crime proceeds, FATF made asset recovery a strategic priority. Effective asset recovery discourages criminal activity, weakens organized criminal groups and terrorists, and facilitates the return of assets to victims, including nations affected by corruption and tax offenses.
These amendments, the first substantial changes since 1990, include requirements for domestic confiscation and provisional freeze measures (R.4), measures to enhance international cooperation on asset recovery (R.38), and improved powers for law enforcement to identify and trace criminal property. Key reforms involve prioritizing asset recovery domestically and internationally, establishing non-conviction-based confiscation regimes, implementing extended confiscation, and providing stronger tools for temporary asset freezing and seizure during investigations.
The FATF emphasizes good communication and informal cooperation between countries on asset recovery, promoting participation in multilateral networks for efficient international cooperation. The President, T. Raja Kumar, urges countries to promptly implement these standards and prioritize asset recovery in national crime prevention and criminal justice strategies. The FATF expects all countries to adopt these reforms promptly, with revisions to assessment methodology planned for the next round of mutual evaluations.
By FCCT Editorial Team
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