The project on “Strengthening anti-money laundering and asset recovery in Azerbaijan” launched a new initiative to support the development of an effective asset recovery system in Azerbaijan. The first phase in this support consists in assessing the existing legal and institutional framework for asset recovery and providing actionable recommendations for its improvement in line with international standards and best practices.
Following a detailed desk review and preliminary consultation of key national institutions through a comprehensive questionnaire, an official launching event for this exercise was organised online on 11 January 2021, including a high-level meeting between the Council of Europe, the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the European Union Delegation, followed by a multi-stakeholder workshop to introduce and discuss the initiative with all relevant national actors.
Following the launch, in-depth bilateral consultations were conducted with representatives of 12 national entities playing a role in different aspects of the asset recovery process, over 3 days, on 11, 14 and 19 January 2021. Concerned institutions included the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Anti-Corruption General Directorate under the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Financial Monitoring Service, the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy, State Security Service, State Customs Committee, State Service on Property Issues under the Ministry of Economy, the Supreme Court and Court on Serious Crimes. These thorough consultations helped to obtain a better understanding of how the legislation and institutional framework is constituted and functions in Azerbaijan. They are expected to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the technical paper and action-oriented recommendations to be produced.
Support in the area of asset recovery is one of the two main components of this ongoing project against economic crime in Azerbaijan. The ultimate goal of this important undertaking is to assist the national authorities in elaborating a coherent policy framework and coordinated approach supported by an operational action plan on strengthening the asset recovery system in the country, towards a more comprehensive and effective system for recovering and managing proceeds from crime, in line with international and European standards.
These activities are part of the project “Strengthening anti-money laundering and asset recovery in Azerbaijan” funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance (2019-2021).
