Cross-border asset recovery focus of workshop held by OSCE in Chisinau

The OSCE facilitated a multi-agency workshop on cross-border recovery and repatriation of criminal assets in Chisinau, Moldova this week. The workshop – held from 24 to 26 October 2023 – gathered representatives from the Moldovan Criminal Asset Recovery Agency, the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases, the General Police Inspectorate, the Ministry of Justice, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the Chisinau City Prosecutor’s Office.

The workshop combined instructional and practical sessions with the aim of enhancing the knowledge of participants on, inter alia, national and international avenues for the return of assets, obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and effective mutual legal assistance. Furthermore, the workshop offered a forum for interconnectivity among practitioners and the exchange of good practices and sharing of institutional barriers to cross-border asset recovery.    

During the group work, the participants examined a mock corruption case involving high-level government officials that involved locating their assets abroad and returning them to Moldova. Each group presented their approach to investigating, prosecuting and returning the assets mentioned in the mock case.

“This workshop gathers all relevant actors on asset recovery in Moldova and is very timely, as we are currently working toward solving some complicated corruption cases,” said Pavel Calpajiu, Head of the Asset Management Office at the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency.

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