Improving and Modernising the Romanian Asset Recovery System
The National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI) has launched this month the initial activities under Programme Component 4: “Improving and Modernising the Romanian Asset Recovery System”, funded through the Security and Public Safety (Justice) Programme as part of the Second Swiss Contribution to reducing economic and social disparities in the European Union. The financing contract was signed on 22 May 2025 with the Ministry of Justice, acting as Programme Operator.
The project is based on a strong partnership between ANABI and the Basel Institute on Governance, consolidated over more than 10 years. During this time, the collaboration has generated several key initiatives, including a first assessment exercise of the Romanian asset recovery system conducted in 2013 (accessible here), “train the trainers” sessions in the field of financial investigations, and the conceptual development of ROARMIS – the national integrated IT system for tracing seized and confiscated assets.
The current project aims to strengthen Romania’s capacity to recover criminal assets through the following main activities:
- Conducting an external independent audit to assess the effectiveness of the current asset recovery system;
- Obtaining ISO 37001:2017 certification, the international standard for anti-bribery management systems, at ANABI level;
- Creating an online training and resource centre dedicated to professionals in the field of asset recovery, a process that will take place in parallel with the accreditation of ANABI as a professional training centre.
Starting from 2 June 2025, a team of two experts from Basel carried out the first activity under Programme Component 4 – the thematic interviews with representatives of institutions involved in the judiciary, law enforcement and international cooperation. Between 2–12 June, participants included representatives from the following institutions: Ministry of Justice (Departments of International Law and Judicial Cooperation, Development of normative acts, and Crime Prevention), Bucharest Tribunal – Criminal Section, Bucharest Court of Appeal – Criminal Section, Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), European Public Prosecutor’s Office – Romania (EPPO), Romanian Police – Directorates for Combating Organised Crime and for Economic Crime Investigation, National Office for Preventing and Combating Money Laundering, Superior Council of Magistracy, National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), National Integrity Agency (ANI), National Union of Romanian Bar Associations – Bucharest Bar, General Anticorruption Directorate (DGA), and ANABI.
The mission aimed to conduct an in-depth analysis of the institutional capacity of the national asset recovery system and to formulate concrete recommendations that will underpin the National Asset Recovery Strategy for the period 2026–2030.
The audit calendar includes: conducting interviews in June, analysing data until October, validating findings at the end of 2025, and drafting and disseminating the final report in the first part of 2026.
Further details on Programme Component 4 implemented by ANABI are available here.
Bucharest, 19 June 2025