UNODC and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan supports Governmental efforts to conduct financial investigations and return stolen assets

To prevent the laundering of the illegal proceeds and to facilitate timely identify and return of stolen assets in Kazakhstan, the more systematic and holistic approach needs to be applied.

In September 2022 a coordination meeting of international and national partners took place, where the effective methods for the combatting money laundering and terrorism financing (AML/CT) in the Republic of Kazakhstan were discussed. The participants reached an agreement to develop a methodology and organize capacity development activities on financial investigations and return of stolen assets during the meeting.  

The Kazakh Government approached the UNODC and its Global Programme against Money Laundering (GPML), known as the global leader for countering money laundering, terrorism financing and asset recovery expertise to support in developing the methodology and materials for the training curriculum.

Methodology was applied by the UNODC Programme for Central Asia in cooperation with the General Prosecutor's Office and the Law Enforcement Academy of the Republic of Kazakhstan into practice. UNODC conducted a three-day training on financial investigations and return of stolen assets for some 20 practitioners and high-level officials f the General Prosecutor's Office, the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Financial Monitoring Agency of Kazakhstan.

“This issue is of high relevance for national policy and strategy in the field of combatting organized transnational crime and the seizure of criminal assets. In addition, the development of the training  for specialists in financial investigations and the return of stolen assets is important for the country,” said Mr. Kaliolla Seitenov, First Vice-Rector of the Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Ms. Oksana Gisca, the UNODC international expert and vice-president of one of the working groups under the Council of Europe, noted that the return of criminal capital is a laborious process, associated with the difficulties of detection and identifying assets, establishing their location and subsequent repatriation, and interacting with foreign jurisdictions.

The training participants gained knowledge on financial investigations, the international legal framework for asset recovery, reviewed the asset recovery process and examples of successful international cooperation in money laundering cases. During practical exercises prepared by UNODC experts, participants were given the opportunity to conduct investigations, carry out international assignments, detain and seize criminal assets.

The training was a logical continuation of the work performed by UNODC as part of a plan of practical measures to develop cooperation and strengthen the capacity of the competent authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism in accordance with international standards, which is funded by the Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) of the US Department of State in Astana.

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For more information, contact Vasilina Brazhko (Ms.)

Communication and PR Specialist at

UNODC Criminal Justice &PVE Programmes

in Central Asia

UNODC PO in the Kyrgyz Republic

+996775987817 WhatsApp or

vasilina.brazhko [at] un.org