Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries (UNODC)

The management of complex assets: challenges and opportunities of crypto assets, real estate and companies  

The Second Inter-Regional Workshop on Complex Assets Management was organized jointly with the Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network of West and Central Asia (ARIN-WCA) to provide a platform for law enforcement and prosecution services to discuss issues related to the management of complex assets with focus on cryptocurrency as a value of ill-gotten assets, real estates and companies, as well as share best practices.

This advanced level event was a follow up to a workshop held in 2019 as part of the priority areas identified by the Network’s Steering Group and enshrined in ARIN-WCA strategic plan 2019-2023.

Practitioners from the Regional Programme Countries, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine discussed, and shared challenges faced with the current regulatory frameworks related to virtual currencies, as well as experience and best practices in investigating relevant cases.

“Investigating and managing virtual assets is a challenge for all countries in the region and this workshop will help us to understand what we can do better address it” said Mr. Abror Akbutaev from ARIN-WCA Secretariat.

 

The workshop looked at the role of regulators, law enforcement and financial intelligence in the investigation process, cooperation with private sectors including exchange stocks, formal and informal channel of communication and its criticality for international cooperation, especially with transnational cases that represent a challenge to investigation and prosecution.

“Managing assets is as important as tracking and seizing them, the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries remains committed to support the Network and its member in this critical area” mentioned Mr. Danilo, Regional Coordinator of the Programme.

Experts from the United Kingdom and the United States Marshals Service provided insights into the management of complex assets and investigations using relevant tools and software to analyze blockchain transactions to track the alleged criminals.  UNODC thanked the Government of Finland for funding the event.