INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF THE NATIONAL AGENCY OF UKRAINE FOR FINDING, TRACING AND MANAGEMENT OF ASSETS DERIVED FROM CORRUPTION AND OTHER CRIMES

Abstract

The article attempts to address comprehensively the tasks, functions and competences of the bodies authorized to identify, search and manage assets. The prerequisites for the creation of a specialized body in Ukraine authorized to regulate the management of seized and confiscated assets or property, whose value corresponds to the proceeds of crime, defined by international legal instruments, are analyzed. A comparative legal study of similar to the operation of asset tracking and tracing agencies, management of such assets is conducted and, based on this study, the prospects for implementing positive foreign experience into the national legal system are determined. Arguments are given for the introduction of a practice of establishing cross-sector asset-tracing agencies, involving various law enforcement officials, analysts and prosecutors, as well as the practice of separating the functions of identifying and searching for assets and the functions of managing them between different agencies. Legislative initiatives on these issues are analyzed. The main areas of cooperation and partnership of the National Agency of Ukraine for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes with similar institutions of foreign countries within such universal and regional initiatives as the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network (CARIN), the ARA Platform in the EU countries, the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN), the partnership initiative of the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Interpol Global Focal Point Initiative, and others are investigated. The scope of activities of international organizations and multi-purpose platforms, with which the National Agency of Ukraine for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes has established close cooperation and exchange of analytical and operational data, is determined. The most promising directions for increasing the efficiency of the activities of the National Agency of Ukraine for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes are substantiated (through the lens of expanding and deepening international cooperation).