Assist the Kyrgyz Government Combating Corruption is the UNODC’ High Priority

To support the Kyrgyz Government’s efforts in recovering stolen assets and returning crime proceeds, UNODC Programme office in the Kyrgyz Republic in cooperation with the General Prosecutor’s Office and State Financial Intelligence Service under the Ministry of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic conducted a discussion on the interagency action plan in search, seizure and recover of stolen assets, conducting financial investigations, and a concept of introduced amendments to the national legislation.

 

With financial support from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), UNODC developed the interagency action plan in search, seizure and recover of stolen assets, conducting financial investigations, and a concept of introduced amendments to the national legislation  as result of the conducted assessment of the law enforcement institution operation in the country.

Stressing on the importance of the “Support to the Kyrgyz Republic in the field of identification, confiscation and recovering the illicitly-acquired assets emanating from corruption activities” project for the Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Kanatbek Turgunbekov, Chairperson of the State Finance Intelligence Service stated: “Amendments to legislative acts will help the country reduce the level of corruption, streamline the work of the justice authorities, and improve inter-agency cooperation in the search for and arrest of stolen assets”.

 

Mr. Charles Hardaway, Director of Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs in the Kyrgyz Republic noted the recent launch of the project and noted: 

“The US Government is happy to continue to be a reliable partner for the Prosecutors’ Training Centre, State Financial Intelligence Service and have done for so many years, and we will continue supporting UNODC’s anti-corruption projects. United States is committed to the long-term support fighting against corruption in Kyrgyzstan to projects such as this initiative helping Kyrgyzstan build capacity to effectively combat corruption and strengthen asset recovery mechanisms”.

Mr. Andrey Seleznev, Head of the UNODC Programme Office in the Kyrgyz Republic, outlined the key priority areas of the UNODC-implemented project saying that “funds recovery is not a one-time activity. It requires strategic planning and systematic approach in implementation of the set measures”.

 

International and local experts used best practices of the states whose criminal prosecution and search systems of stolen assets are similar to the Kyrgyz one to prepare the action plan and introduce amendments to the national legislation. Besides, these documents contain actions to ensure effective financial investigations and inter-agency cooperation aimed at discovering crimes damaging economic interest of the Kyrgyz Republic at early stages.

As the result of the series of working groups discussions, the State Financial Intelligence Service under the Ministry of Finance submitted finalized Action Plan and a concept of introduced amendments to the national legislation to the Commission for the prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing which will consider them for adoption on September 30, 2022.

This work is carried out as part of the UNODC Programme Office in the Kyrgyz Republic project “Support to the Kyrgyz Republic in the field of identification, confiscation and recovering the illicitly-acquired assets emanating from corruption activities,” of Sub-programme 1 "Prevention and combating transnational organized crime" of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia.

 PROJECT INFORMATION 

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For more information, contact Vasilina Brazhko (Ms.)

Communication and PR Specialist at

UNODC Criminal Justice Programme in Central Asia

UNODC PO in the Kyrgyz Republic

+996775987817 WhatsApp or

vasilina.brazhko [at] un.org