A new directive on asset recovery and confiscation was published in the EU's Official Journal on Thursday. The Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, stated that this rule represents a step forward in the fight against organized crime and associated illegal profits and that it will be transposed into national legislation.
Alina Gorghiu: ANABI is becoming an increasingly solid institution PHOTO Facebook
Directive (EU) 2024/1260 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 April 2024 on asset recovery and confiscation was published on Thursday in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series of 2 May 2024.
The Directive lays down minimum rules on the tracing and identification, freezing, confiscation and management of assets in criminal proceedings and applies without prejudice to freezing and confiscation measures in civil or administrative proceedings.
Asset tracking
According to the Directive, in order to facilitate cross-border cooperation, Member States shall take measures to enable the rapid tracing and identification of instruments and products or goods which are or may be the subject of a freezing or confiscation order in the course of criminal proceedings.
Asset recovery offices
According to the cited source, each member state is establishing at least one asset recovery office to facilitate cross-border cooperation in asset tracing investigations.
Asset recovery offices have the following tasks:
(a) trace and identify instruments, products or goods when necessary to support other competent national authorities responsible for asset tracing investigations under Article 4 or the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO);
(b) tracing and identifying instruments, products or goods that are or could be subject to a freezing or confiscation order issued by a competent authority in another Member State;
(c) cooperation and exchange of information with the asset recovery offices of other Member States and the EPPO in relation to the tracing and identification of instruments, products or goods which are or may be the subject of a freezing or confiscation order .
Confiscation of unjustified assets
According to the new Directive, Member States shall take the necessary measures to allow (where, in accordance with domestic law, the confiscation measures provided for in Articles 12-15 cannot be applied) the confiscation of assets identified in the context of an investigation into a crime, provided that a national court is convinced that the identified assets were obtained from criminal activities carried out within a criminal organization and that those criminal activities are likely to generate, directly or indirectly, substantial economic benefits.
Victim compensation
According to the cited source, Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that, where, following the commission of a crime, victims make claims against the person subject to a confiscation measure provided for in this Directive, such claims are taken into account in the the relevant procedures for tracing, freezing and confiscating assets.
Further use of confiscated assets
At the same time, the member states are encouraged to take the necessary measures to allow the possibility that the confiscated goods are used, as the case may be, in the public interest or for social purposes.
Gorghiu: A step forward in the fight against organized crime
The Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, stated, in a post on her Facebook page, regarding the publication of the directive, that it is “a step forward in the fight against organized crime and associated illegal profits”. “I will ensure that we transpose the directive into national legislation in the immediate period ahead,” Gorghiu added.
The Minister of Justice emphasizes that the new directive includes more efficient mechanisms available to member states and the confiscation of unjustified assets in the event that the respective assets are linked to an act committed through a criminal organization and generate substantial economic benefits.
The Minister of Justice mentioned that the institution she leads, through ANABI, makes efforts to: prevent crime; victim protection; legal education by granting grants (non-refundable funding) to NGOs.
Gorghiu also stated that the system through which victims of crimes can benefit from material aid to pay for urgent needs, in the form of vouchers, “is functional”.
“ANABI's annual program for granting non-refundable funding to non-profit activities of general interest for the year 2024 – Support for victims and the community. Criminals pay” is in the analysis stage of project proposals submitted by NGOs. The goal of the program is the visible and consistent social reuse of criminal products in order to remove the negative effects of crime on victims“, said the Minister of Justice.
Alina Gorghiu also stated that the National Agency for the Administration of Undisposed Assets “it becomes an increasingly solid institution” and that the institution's portfolio is approximately one billion lei: “13,705 accounts, 245 movable goods, a stock of goods, several types of virtual currency unavailable during the criminal process, with a total value of approximately 100,000,000 euros. The movable asset with the highest individual value is a motor vehicle and is estimated at approximately 450,000 Euros”, added the Minister of Justice.
