Reminder: Your contribution to the project on "Assessing the scope and effectiveness of innovative legal approaches to money laundering investigations and asset recovery"
Dear Members,
Thank you to those of you who have already sent their completed datasheets as part of The Siracusa International Institute's research project "Assessing the scope and effectiveness of innovative legal approaches to money laundering investigations and asset recovery". Your contributions will be key to the success of this project.
If you have not done so yet, please allow this message to serve as a kind reminder to please send the completed datasheet by 30th September to f.bellio@siracusainstitute.org. Mr Flavio Bellio, Research Fellow at The Siracusa International Institute, will be happy to answer any questions and/or comments.
As you may know, this joint project of the EU AML/CFT Global Facility and The Siracusa International Institute is examining the mechanisms which ease the burden of proof in money laundering prosecutions or in confiscation proceedings.
Indeed, proving elements of the money laundering offence, like the illicit origin of the goods or the intentional element, can be very challenging for prosecutors. Likewise, a prosecutor seeking to obtain the confiscation of suspected proceeds of crime may struggle in proving the illicit origin of the property in question. Countries have therefore introduced legal mechanisms which lighten the burden of proof on prosecution, shift it onto the defendant under certain conditions, or allow for a lower standard of proof in proceedings. For example, the illicit origin of the goods can be presumed under certain circumstances; a particular rule for the interpretation of circumstantial evidence may help prove the intentional element; the prosecutor may use civil confiscation so that the burden of proof is lighter than in criminal proceedings; etc.
In this context, the project seeks to develop a worldwide catalogue of such mechanisms, which is where the contribution of AIDP members will prove invaluable. You are invited to identify one or several mechanisms in your national law which ease the burden of proof of the material and/or intentional element in money laundering proceedings and/or the burden of proof of the illicit origin of goods in confiscation proceedings.
You are encouraged to think outside the box and share information on mechanisms which may not be well-known or used outside of your jurisdiction. Sharing best practices is also very helpful. You will find more explanations, as well as examples of mechanisms and of completed datasheets, in the guidance document available at this link:
You are then invited to answer the questions in the document available at this link:
Once completed, please send it by e-mail to f.bellio@siracusainstitute.org.
Once more, thank you very much for your precious help.
Best regards,
The Association Internationale de Droit Pénal (AIDP)