7. International Cooperation in Asset Recovery
Corruption cases and most complex money laundering cases generally require asset recovery efforts beyond domestic borders. Some parts of an offense may be committed in another jurisdiction: a company paying bribes for a contract may be headquartered in a jurisdiction outside the jurisdiction in which the bribes are paid, and the officials receiving the bribes may launder their ill-gotten gains in another jurisdiction. In addition, the international financial sector is a particularly attractive setting for people seeking to launder funds and impede asset tracing efforts. Intermediaries or gatekeepers, such as accountants, lawyers, or trust and company service providers, offer access to the financial sector and serve to disguise a corrupt official’s involvement in a transaction or ownership of assets. Corrupt officials use complicated financial schemes often involving offshore centers, shell companies, and corporate vehicles to launder the proceeds of corruption. In addition, money can be moved quickly—often instantly—with the click of a keyboard key or a cell phone button, with the help of such tools as wire transfers, letters of credit, credit and debit cards, automated teller machines, and mobile devices. In contrast, asset tracing and recovery by law enforcement officials and prosecutors may take months or years because the principle of sovereignty restricts domestic authorities’ ability to take investigative, legal, and enforcement actions in foreign jurisdictions. Successful tracing and recovery efforts often depend on assistance from foreign jurisdictions, a process that may be slowed and complicated by differences in legal traditions, laws and procedures, languages, time zones, and capacities. In this context, international cooperation is essential for the successful recovery of assets that have been stashed abroad. The international community has concluded a number of multilateral treaties or instruments requiring states parties to cooperate with one another on investigations, production of evidence, provisional measures and confiscation, and asset return (see box 1.1 in chapter 1). Figure 7.1 illustrates that international cooperation is integral to each phase of asset recovery. Practitioners should take into account that international cooperation is “mutual”: not only will the jurisdiction that has been plundered of its assets be requesting assistance from the foreign jurisdiction(s) where the assets are hidden, but it may need to provide information or evidence to these jurisdictions to obtain the most effective recovery of assets. In addition, practitioners must be proactive in seeking international cooperation, as well as in alerting their counterparts in foreign jurisdictions to potential corruption offenses. Examples of the primary forms of cooperation include informal