INTERNATIONAL CO OPERATION IN FRAUD INVESTIGATION: MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AND EXTRADITION. SWITZERLAND: the answer of a financial center

Transcription

1 Federal Department of Justice and Police FDJP Federal Office of Justice FOJ Division for International Legal Assistance INTERNATIONAL CO OPERATION IN FRAUD INVESTIGATION: MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AND EXTRADITION SWITZERLAND: the answer of a financial center London: Carmelite Chambers: International fraud and asset recovery Conference Pascal Gossin Swiss Federal Office of Justice

2 SWITZERLAND: the answer of a financial center Presentation outline Cross border cooperation in criminal matters: the Swiss system Mutual Legal Assistance : FOJ as turntable of domestic and foreign requests The spontaneous transmission of information: an effective tool in the fight against international crime PEP (politically exposed persons) corner: something new?

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4 MARKET SHARES OF CROSS-BORDER PRIVATE BANKING IN Source: Boston Consulting Group

5 SECURITY HOLDING IN CLIENT CUSTODY ACCOUNTS Source: Swiss National Bank

6 Securities holdings in client bank accounts (domestic and foreign account holders), in CHF bn RISK Total amount (End June 2013) 4672 CHF Bn Source: Swiss National Bank. Monthly Statistical Bulletin August 2013

7 Cross border cooperation in criminal matters: the Swiss system (main features) Centralisation of the extradition proceeding Partial centralisation of the mutual legal assistance proceeding Assistance based on trust: low theeshold of admissibility for MLA requests ( for restrain, evidence) Leader position in asset recovery

8 Mutual Legal Assistance : FOJ as turntable of domestic and foreign requests 1. OVERALL COMPETENCE IN MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE 8 TRANSMISSION OF MLA REQUESTS (CENTRAL AUTHORITY/MINISTRY OF JUSTICE) NEGOCIATION OF MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE TREATIES 2. SURVEY OF SWISS MLA PROCEEDINGS APPEAL STANDING AGAINST SWISS DECISIONS ON MLAT REQUESTS CONSULTATION IN EACH APPEAL PROCEEDING GUIDELINES

9 3. OPERATIONAL FUNCTIONS EXECUTION OF EXTRADITION REQUESTS (from arrest to surrending) 9 EXECUTION OF SOME IMPORTANT MLA REQUESTS (enforcement powers such as providing of banking documentation, freeze and return of assets, telephone control ) SHARING OF ASSETS (negociation and conclusion of sharing agreements with foreign countries) NATIONAL CONTACT POINT TO EJN and EUROJUST

10 Return of assets in Switzerland Main players (% total amount returned of CHF 1,7 bn ) And cases up to end 2010

11 The spontaneous transmission of information: an effective tool in the fight against international crime Goal: improvement of the inter-state cooperation Mean: providing of information or evidence to a foreign State in order to permit the opening of a criminal proceeding or facilitate an ongoing criminal investigation. Restriction 1: no evidence but only information can be transmitted if rules of secrecy apply (ex banking secrecy) Restriction 2: if no international agreement exists with the foreign State, FOP decides on the transmission Swiss experiences: very effectives (ex Montesinos) / Brasil. Useful in PEP cases

12 Spontaneous transmissions of information Statistics

13 PEP (politically exposed persons) corner: something new? The international financial centres must form a common front to prevent the inflow of such funds, to quickly freeze assets of criminal origin and return them to the rightful owners. In some circumstances, mutual legal assistances is not (no more) the solution. Act on the Restitution of Illicit Asset (LRAI) of The law comes into existence as a result of difficulties encountered by the Swiss authorities in returning assets frozen in Switzerland to so-called failing State. The law comprises the three instruments of freezing, forfeiture and restitution in situations of failure. New draft Federal Act on the Freezing and Restitution of Assets of Politically Exposed Persons obtained by Unlawful Means The preliminary draft proposes a single act providing for the freezing, confiscation and restitution of potentates' assets The preliminary draft provides for the preventive freezing, as a precautionary measure, of assets of politically exposed persons. In addition, it establishes procedures for the administrative confiscation and restitution of potentates' assets. Possibility of advanced transmission of information.

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