CRIMJUST delivered a Regional Workshop on Asset Recovery and Mechanism for the Prosecution of the Illicit Product on 11 June 2018 together with the School of Public Prosecutors of the Public Ministry of Panama. With the participation of officers from the Public Prosecution Office(s) of Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, the two-day seminar promoted the exchange of best practices and experiences on new strategies in illicit asset recovery and proceeds of crime.
At the inaugural event, Attorney Ronaldo Rodriguez, stressed that, “it is necessary to try to prevent criminal organisations from using the proceeds of crime, specifically, those profits that are often crucial to facilitate more criminal actions”. Rodriguez also noted that, even though in several countries progress has been made on the adoption of different strategies, asset recovery remains one of the most important elements of the fight against organised crime and drug trafficking.
During the first day, the CRIMJUST Project Coordinator in the UNODC Regional Office for Central America and the Caribbean (UNODC ROPAN), Mrs. Grisell Mojica Aguilar, discussed the global impact of drug trafficking, its financial consequences, and the role of the UN with regards to asset recovery.
Other topics discussed were the economic perspective of criminal investigations, the characteristics of asset recovery and the international legal framework, as well as the legal regimes of restitution and asset allocation agreements under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC).
