Asset recovery is a global responsibility

Senior government officials from the UK, the UAE and 40 other countries will take part in the 2nd Arab Forum for Asset Recovery (AFAR II) which will be held in Morocco from today till Monday (October 28). It is co-hosted by the UK and Morocco.

The Arab Forum for Asset Recovery was established under the US presidency last year to encourage cooperation on asset recovery between the Arab countries in transition, the G8, and regional and Gulf partners. We are all aware that Asset recovery is a global issue which needs a global response, thus we are also working with the World Bank/UNODC’s Stolen Assets Recovery programme (STAR).

The inaugural meeting of AFAR was held in Qatar in September 2012. It was a successful meeting, attended by more than 200 ministers and senior officials from over 25 countries including the UK and the UAE. There was an open discussion on the challenges and expectations related to asset recovery in the Arab World, and a commitment to continue international cooperation in this area.

This year’s meeting will once again bring together key governments and institutions involved in asset recovery across the world. It will be a valuable opportunity to take stock of progress made so far and identify areas for future cooperation and assistance; exchange expertise and experience on how to make it harder for stolen assets to be hidden overseas; and progress bilateral casework.

AFAR II follows three Special Sessions the UK has held this year which aimed to share experience and build technical expertise. The first Special Session in Qatar on April 2-4 set out to tackle the need for better domestic co-ordination; the second Special Session in Egypt on June 11-13 focussed on financial investigations; and the third Special Session in London on September 3-4 focussed on the constructive role of civil society in asset recovery.

Asset recovery is an important and sensitive economic issue to Arab countries in transition for its moral implications. It is equally important to the international community for the need to reduce the instability it creates in the international financial system when dealing with funds that are often involved in speculative financial operations.

The UK is committed to returning stolen assets to the people of the Arab Spring countries and it is using its G8 presidency to promote multilateral asset recovery efforts, strengthen cooperation on bilateral casework and further develop collaboration among practitioners.

Under the UK’s presidency, the G8 has agreed to collective action to improve the transparency of beneficial ownership to tackle illicit financial flows, and to make it easier for law enforcement and tax administrations to fight company misuse. This will have a positive impact on asset recovery work.

Since the British prime minister’s announcement at the UN General Assembly in September 2012, the UK has created a cross-Government Asset Recovery Task Force dedicated to increasing and accelerating our effort in tracing stolen assets from Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, gathering evidence and bringing cases before the courts.

The taskforce is headed by the home office minister and comprises a multi-agency operational team, including 10 investigators from the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police, lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Service, and officials from the UK Central Authority (leading on Mutual Legal Assistance), and HM Treasury (leading on asset freezing).

The taskforce is also reviewing the UK’s asset recovery legislation, drawing on the independent advice of a leading Queen’s Counsel, to ensure we have the necessary legal tools to repatriate stolen assets.

The UK’s work with Egypt in particular was significant. The UK has posted a Regional Asset Recovery Adviser to Cairo to provide expert technical assistance to countries in the region.

Early this year, Jeremy Browne, former minister for crime prevention, reinforced the UK’s commitment to trace and recover stolen assets when he visited Cairo to discuss the work of the taskforce with his Egyptian counterparts.

The taskforce has also established joint investigations with the Egyptian authorities — a number of court orders enabling intrusive financial investigations have been applied for and granted by the UK courts. Priority targets for investigation have also been agreed with the Egyptian authorities.

Enquiries are now extending well beyond the UK. Investigators are sifting through tens of thousands of pages of financial documents as they untangle complex offshore financial structures. The investigators are in regular contact with Egyptian investigators and prosecutors.

This is painstaking work that takes time to complete and we must always comply with due legal process. Even with our best endeavours, assets are likely to be returned in years rather than months.

The taskforce is making good progress towards that goal. Beyond the transition countries, in relation to the freezing and ultimately the recovery of illicit assets, there has been close cooperation and dialogue between the UK and the UAE, our strategic partner.

The UK has been working closely with the UAE’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice and with the UAE Central Bank to address this challenging area of law. It is a testament to the steady progression of the legal cooperation since the commencement of our bilateral treaties in April 2008. This progression was enhanced further by the appointment of UK’s first Liaison Prosecutor to the UAE in January 2011.

Our cooperation and mutual respect for the rule of law is indeed something that we will proudly share with the delegates at AFAR II.

Dominic Jermey is the UK’s ambassador to the UAE.