OSCE trains law enforcement and criminal justice practitioners in asset recovery

The OSCE and the Agency for Management of Seized and Confiscated Property trained law enforcement and criminal justice practitioners in asset recovery pre-seizure planning.

The training course - held in Skopje, North Macedonia, on 26 and 27 September - covered sessions on the institutional and legal framework in North Macedonia, good practices from other jurisdictions, and planning modalities for different types of assets, including real estate, vehicles, businesses and others. The course focused on inter-institutional co-operation throughout the asset recovery process. Participants also shared their institutional challenges and proposed ways to address them.

“Confiscation failures start with a lack of pre-seizure planning”, said Thomas J. Abernathy, a subject-matter expert with twenty-five years of experience working with the United States Marshals Service.

Co-ordination and planning among the institutions involved in the asset recovery cycle are prerequisites for the effective recovery of criminal assets. Seizing criminal assets without meticulous planning may result in financial liabilities for seizing authorities, operational challenges, and pose risks to those involved in the process.

The training course was organized within the framework of the extra-budgetary project “Strengthening Asset Recovery Efforts in the OSCE Region”, implemented jointly by the Transnational Threats Department and the Office of the OSCE Co-ordinator for Economic and Environmental Affairs, with the financial support of Austria, Germany, Italy, and the United States.