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LARMO attends a study mission on Modern Modalities to Seize and Confiscate Illicitly Acquired Assets in Dublin

Officials from the Libyan Asset Recovery and Management Office (LARMO) and the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) Financial Intelligence Unit attended a study mission in Dublin on Modern Modalities to Seize and Confiscate Illicitly Acquired Assets, organised by United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Unit (UNICRI) on April 18/19.  UNICRI has supported LARMO since its beginnings in 2017.

Delegates heard from senior officials from the Republic of Ireland’s Criminal Asset Bureau (CAB) and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) about relevant Irish and British legislation and their efforts to recover assets through both criminal and civil measures and their techniques.

CAB representatives spoke about targeting and seizing houses, cars and luxury items from criminals, where wealth cannot be explained on a “balance of probabilities”. Assets are transferred to an Asset Management Office, or sold at auction, and the money is used to fund community projects through Ireland’s Community Safety Investment Fund as well as to fund more investigation activities by CAB.

A senior British NCA official explained their wide enforcement powers for freezing and seizing stolen wealth, including from government officials up to Heads of State level, elected politicians, ambassadors, judges and heads of state-owned enterprises. The NCA’s extensive powers of freezing and seizure are designed to prevent assets being removed yet again by high-profile targets.

LARMO is investigating several high-value Libyan asset recovery files around the world for their return to the Libyan people.