Confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of corruption crimes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

F. FATF 
Recommendation No. 3 of the FAFT 40 Recommendations, which were developed by the Financial Action 
Task Force on Money Laundering on 20 June 2003, envisages that countries should adopt measures similar 
to those set forth in the Vienna and Palermo Conventions, including legislative measures, to enable their 
competent authorities to confiscate property laundered, proceeds from money laundering or predicate 
offences, instrumentalities used in or intended for use in the commission of these offences, or property of 
corresponding value, without prejudicing the rights of bona fide third parties. 
Such measures should include the authority to: (a) identify, trace and evaluate property which is subject to 
confiscation; (b) carry out provisional measures, such as freezing and seizing, to prevent any dealing, transfer 
or disposal of such property; (c) take steps that will prevent or void actions that prejudice the State’s ability 
to recover property that is subject to confiscation; and (d) take any appropriate investigative measures. That 
said, countries may consider adopting measures that allow such proceeds or instrumentalities to be 
confiscated without requiring a criminal conviction, or which require an offender to demonstrate the lawful 
origin of the property alleged to be liable to confiscation, to the extent that such a requirement is consistent 
with the principles of their domestic law. 
Recommendations Nos. 27, 28, 32 also envisage the investigative and other institutional measures, statistics 
standards pertaining to the confiscation of proceeds of criminal offence. 
G. CE Parliamentary Assembly 
In its Resolution 2218
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, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) stressed that 
confiscation of illegal assets has multiple benefits: it makes crime less financially rewarding, saps the power 
bestowed on criminals by their wealth, deprives them of “seed money” needed for future crimes and 
generates resources to compensate victims and rebuild communities damaged by crimes.
The PACE noted that confiscation of criminal assets is often prevented by heavy burden of proof placed on 
the competent national authorities and by an ineffective cooperation between the authorities in different 
countries in this field. It refers to specific legislation passed by Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK to 
facilitate the confiscation of criminal assets, in particular by reducing the authorities burden of proof 
regarding the criminal origin of unexplained wealth, through the use of factual presumptions or even, under 
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Resolution 2218 (2018), Fighting organized crime by facilitating the confiscation of illegal assets, adopted by the Assembly on 26 
April 2018, available at http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-EN.asp?fileid=24761&lang=en
. 

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certain conditions, a de facto reversal of the burden of proof. Such measures (also known as non-conviction-
based confiscation, civil forfeiture, confiscation 
in rem
or unexplained wealth orders) have successfully 
withstood scrutiny by the highest courts of the appropriate countries and the European Court of Human 
Rights and were found to be compatible with human rights provided sufficient safeguards exist (including 
full judicial review of these measures by independent and impartial courts). 
As a result, the Assembly invited all Members of the Council of Europe and other States to provide for non-
conviction-based confiscation in their national laws, as well as the possibility of equivalent value 
confiscation and taxation of criminal gains, whilst establishing appropriate safeguards, and adopt good 
practices, including:
-
allowing for full judicial review, by an independent and impartial tribunal, within a reasonable term, 
of any decision to freeze or confiscate the assets;
-
granting compensation to persons whose assets were frozen or confiscated erroneously;
-
providing for legal aid for judicial review and compensation proceedings for persons who cannot 
afford a legal representative;
-
creating a specialized body to deal with the freezing and confiscation of illegal assets etc.
The Assembly also called on the States to promote international co-operation in this field by taking 
expeditious actions and co-operating with each other to the widest extent possible for the purpose of 
investigations and proceedings aiming at the confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime.