European Union (EU) negotiators have agreed on rules for new legislation that will allow governments to freeze and seize so-called “unaccounted for wealth” believed to be linked to criminal activity.
Council members have agreed on mandatory rules for the detection, identification, freezing, seizure and management of assets considered criminal property, in a strengthened effort to fight organized crime, the EU says in a new press release.
The Council says that in the newly agreed text, EU member states must take comprehensive measures to allow for the freezing of property “to guarantee eventual confiscation” and to enable final conviction in the event of a criminal offense fact.
Not only will Member States seize ‘criminal money’, they will also adopt rules allowing them to manage confiscated assets and ensure that governments seize property equal to the value ‘corresponding to the criminal proceeds ‘.
Says the press release,
“In a first for many Member States, a new rule on the seizure of unexplained wealth will allow, under certain conditions, the seizure of property identified in the context of an investigation into criminal offences, provided that a national court is satisfied that the identified object originates from criminal activities committed within the framework of a criminal organization and that those activities give rise to substantial economic benefit.
The agreement pays particular attention to procedural safeguards.”
If wealth or property is transferred to a third party, the new measures allow governments to seize it if they decide the recipient knew “or should have known” that the reason for the transfer was to avoid confiscation.
Félix Bolaños, Spain’s Minister of Justice, says:
“The profits from criminal activities are staggering. Only if governments have the resources to recover these profits will they have a chance to fight organized crime.”
In mid-2023, an agreement was reached on the basic principles of the new measure, which mentioned crypto assets by name.
The new agreement will now have to be approved by the Member States’ representatives in the Council.
If approved, the text will go through the formal adoption process in both the Council and the European Parliament.
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