Enhancing Integrity and Effectiveness of Illegal Asset Confiscation - European Approaches
Confiscation and recovery of criminal assets are two stages of a legal process whereby criminal/illegal assets (proceeds or instrumentalities of crime) are recovered in favour of victims, deprived communities or the state. At the heart of this process lies the determination by a court that particular assets are criminal, or the inability of the violator to prove the legal origin of the assets and, thereby, liable to confiscation. This typically takes the form of a confiscation order. The full process entails identification, preservation and confiscation of assets, as well as enforcement of the confiscation order against particular assets and management of the assets or return of confiscated assets to the victims.
Preservation means temporarily prohibiting the transfer, conversion, disposition or movement of property, usually on the basis of an order issued by a court or a competent authority. The term is used interchangeably with freezing, seizure, restraining, attachment, preservation or blocking.