Recovering Stolen Assets: With a preface by Eva Joly

Development efforts will remain frustrated so long as corrupt leaders continue to steal their countries' wealth and dispose of these ill-gotten gains in foreign jurisdictions. The prevention of such looting, and the recovery of the stolen assets are thus critical development issues and a cornerstone of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (2003) (UNCAC). However, to date experience with asset recovery is limited, and a number of legal and other obstacles continue to impede progress.
This is the first comprehensive work on asset recovery, written by renowned practitioners and academics representing different legal systems and countries, all of whom have extensive experience in the asset recovery field. The authors notably discuss the `success stories' of the past (the recovery of the assets of Sani Abacha, Ferdinand Marcos and Vladimiro Montesinos) and the concrete challenges for the future with regard to search, seizure, confiscation and repatriation of stolen assets. The book also provides perspectives on the role of technical assistance and donors in asset recovery and the likely impact of the UNCAC.

Contents: Eva Joly: Preface: Repatriation of Assets - Preface : Rapatriement d'Actifs - Mark Pieth: Recovering Stolen Assets - A New Issue - Bernard Bertossa: What Makes Asset Recovery so Difficult in Practice? A Practitioner's Perspective - Nuhu Ribadu: Challenges and Opportunities of Asset Recovery in a Developing Economy - Enrico Monfrini: The Abacha Case - Tim Daniel/James Maton: Recovering the Proceeds of Corruption: General Sani Abacha - A Nation's Thief - Sergio Salvioni: Recovering the Proceeds of Corruption: Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines - Simeon V. Marcelo: The Long Road from Zurich to Manila: The Recovery of the Marcos Swiss Dollar Deposits - Guillermo Jorge: The Peruvian Efforts to Recover Proceeds from Montesinos's Criminal Network of Corruption - Willie Hofmeyr: Navigating between Mutual Legal Assistance and Confiscation Systems - Alan Bacarese: Asset Recovery in a Common Law System: The United Kingdom - Paul Gully-Hart: International Asset Recovery of Corruption-Related Assets: Switzerland - Rene Brulhart: Asset Recovery from the Perspective of an Offshore Financial Centre (OFC): Liechtenstein - Hans-Peter Bauer: How to Deal with Politically Exposed Persons - Mary Jane Schirber/Frank E. Hydoski: Identification and Quantification - Jean-Bernard Schmid: Seizure - Tim Daniel/James Maton: Civil Proceedings to Recover Corruptly Acquired Assets of Public Officials - Pierre-Yves Morier: Is Autonomous Confiscation the Acme of Asset Recovery? - Nikos Passas: UNCAC, Technical Assistance and Development Efforts - Anne Lugon-Moulin: Asset Recovery: Concrete Challenges for Development Assistance - Cornelis De Jong: The Role of Donors - Pietro Veglio/Peter Siegenthaler: Monitoring the Restitution of Looted State Assets: the Role of Multilateral Development Banks (MDB's) - Daniel Claman: The Promise and Limitations of Asset Recovery under the UNCAC - Dimitri Vlassis/Dorothee Gottwald: Implementing the Asset Recovery Provisions of the UNCAC - Antenor Madruga: Expectations of Developing Economies: A View from the Americas - Mark Pieth: Putting the Puzzle Together.