•
•
•
•
•
uncover discrepancies between movements of funds and actual business transactions, thereby signaling possible corrupt activities. In particular, examination of financial documents relating to revenues or expenses may reveal patterns of fictitious billing typical of corruption and bribery cases. Whistle-blowers. Initial referrals for investigation may come from employees or individuals who suspect malfeasance within their institutions or who are hoping for lenient treatment for their own crimes.31 Media and civil society reports. Suspicious activity or arrests of foreign officials on corruption charges are often relayed by the news media or through reports of civil society and nongovernmental organizations. Such reports may trigger an investigation directly or may prompt the filing of an STR that leads to an investigation. Asset and income declarations by public officials. Many jurisdictions oblige public officials to disclose information regarding their assets and income.32 These declarations may highlight significant increases in assets that are inconsistent with an individual’s declared income or even falsification of declared income. Comparing declared assets against those assets used by public officials may point toward illicit enrichment. Intelligence services. Information may be received from an intelligence agency or through intelligence services located in another government agency (for example, law enforcement or a regulatory authority). Proactive investigations. Practitioners may also actively seek information from potential sources. They may monitor the activities of sensitive industries or those susceptible to money laundering and corruption, such as natural resource extraction or arms dealing.
2.2 Assembling a Team or Unit, Task Forces, and Joint Investigations with Foreign Authorities Particularly in large, complex cases, it will be important to assemble a multidisciplinary team or unit to ensure the effective handling of the case and eventual confiscation. This team likely will comprise a range of individuals, including financial investigators and experts in financial analysis, forensic accountants, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and asset managers. Experts may be appointed from the private sector or seconded 31. Many jurisdictions have incorporated whistle-blower protections and procedures into legislation. Haiti, for example, enshrined the concept—referred to as “public outcry”—in its 1987 constitution. See also UNCAC, art. 33. 32. UNCAC art. 8(5), 52(5), and 52(6) require states parties to consider establishing such systems; and there are approximately 114 jurisdictions with systems in place for disclosure to an ethics office, anticorruption body, or other government department. See Theodore S. Greenberg, Larissa Gray, Delphine Schantz, Carolin Gardner, and Michael Lathem, Politically Exposed Persons: Preventive Measures for the Banking Sector (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010), 42; Ruxandra Burdescu, Gary J. Reid, Stuart Gilman, and Stephanie Trapnell, Stolen Asset Recovery—Income and Asset Declarations: Tools and Trade-offs (Washington, DC: StAR Initiative, conference edition released November 2009). Documents are available at www.worldbank.org/star.
22
I
Asset Recovery Handbook