Financial parallel investigations and the confiscation of proceeds from serious crimes

Abstract

This thesis sets out to explain why and how the international regulatory landscape with respect to financial parallel investigations and the confiscation of criminal proceeds has been rapidly changing over the past few years. This on-going improvement process resulted in a plethora of changes with respect to the specific legislative sphere that deals with the abovementioned subject matter. Research showed that existing legislation regarding the confiscation of criminal proceeds is imbalanced in different States, and the international community has been inefficient in confiscating the money and assets resulting from criminal activities. For instance, the UN estimated that criminal proceeds in 2009 went up to 2 trillion Euro, from which only 1% was recovered. The resultant fact is that the international community must apply the principle 'follow the money' and not only limit itself to the use of criminal procedure, but also start making use of civil procedure in order to deprive the criminals of their illegally obtained assets, as is done in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States of America. With the proceeds from crime, criminals create more organised crime or, through the offence of money laundering, they infiltrate the licit economy. Thus, this thesis also focuses on the different confiscation techniques used in different jurisdictions and how the implementation of certain procedures would be of great help to freeze and seize more criminal proceeds resulting from serious crimes.