Reunions of the national authorities with representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice

Bucharest, October 18, 2023

Press release

Reunions of the national authorities with representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice

  

The National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI) with the support of the U.S. Department of Justice Central Europe Anti-Corruption Resident Legal Advisor organized a three-day visit and meetings of the Romanian authorities with representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice - Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and the U.S. Marshals Service.

The visit took place between October 11 and 13, 2023, with a focus on topics of interest for both parties, related to financial investigations and asset recovery: interagency cooperation; pre-planning of seizing orders; dealing with high value assets and cryptocurrency; the American Consolidated Asset Tracking System that inspired ROARMIS - Romanian Asset Recovery and Management Integrated System; victim compensations; asset sharing agreements etc.

During the three days’ visit, the U.S. delegation also met with the General Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Chief Prosecutor of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism, representatives of the National Anticorruption Directorate, and shared best practices and lessons learnt in asset recovery cases, as well as current challenges met by the prosecutors and financial investigators in addressing the asset recovery component.

On October 13, 2023, a trilateral meeting took place between ANABI, the U.S. delegation and a delegation from the Asset Recovery Agency of the Republic of Moldova, the latter being in Romania for an exchange of experience with ANABI in the asset recovery and asset management areas. This meeting builds on ongoing preparations for the Global Forum on Asset Recovery to be organized by the USA in December 2023 during the UNCAC COSP.