Federal Department of Justice and Police FDJP Federal Office of Justice FOJ Division for International Legal Assistance

Pascal Gossin Swiss Federal Office of Justice

London: Carmelite Chambers: International fraud and asset recovery Conference

INTERNATIONAL CO OPERATION IN FRAUD INVESTIGATION: MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AND EXTRADITION

SWITZERLAND: the answer of a financial center

SWITZERLAND: the answer of a financial center Presentation outline

•  Cross border cooperation in criminal matters: the Swiss system

•  Mutual Legal Assistance : FOJ as turntable of domestic and foreign requests

•  The spontaneous transmission of information: an effective tool in the fight against international crime

•  PEP (politically exposed persons) corner: something new ?

MARKET SHARES OF CROSS-BORDER PRIVATE BANKING IN 2012

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Source: Boston Consulting Group

SECURITY HOLDING IN CLIENT CUSTODY ACCOUNTS

Source: Swiss National Bank

Securities holdings in client bank accounts (domestic and foreign account holders), in CHF bn

Source: Swiss National Bank. Monthly Statistical Bulletin August 2013

Total amount (End June 2013) 4672 CHF Bn

RISK

Cross border cooperation in criminal matters: the Swiss system (main features)

•  Centralisation of the extradition proceeding

•  Partial centralisation of the mutual legal assistance proceeding

•  Assistance based on trust: low theeshold of admissibility for MLA requests ( for restrain, evidence)

•  Leader position in asset recovery

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1.  OVERALL COMPETENCE IN MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE

TRANSMISSION OF MLA REQUESTS (CENTRAL AUTHORITY/MINISTRY OF JUSTICE)

NEGOCIATION OF MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE TREATIES

2.  SURVEY OF SWISS MLA PROCEEDINGS

APPEAL STANDING AGAINST SWISS DECISIONS ON MLAT REQUESTS

CONSULTATION IN EACH APPEAL PROCEEDING

GUIDELINES

Mutual Legal Assistance : FOJ as turntable of domestic and foreign requests

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3. OPERATIONAL FUNCTIONS

•  EXECUTION OF EXTRADITION REQUESTS (from arrest to surrending)

•  EXECUTION OF SOME IMPORTANT MLA REQUESTS (enforcement powers such as providing of banking documentation, freeze and return of assets, telephone control…)

•  SHARING OF ASSETS (negociation and conclusion of sharing agreements with foreign countries)

•  NATIONAL CONTACT POINT TO EJN and EUROJUST

Return of assets in Switzerland Main players (% total amount returned of CHF 1,7 bn )

And cases up to end 2010

The spontaneous transmission of information: an effective tool in the fight against international crime

•  Goal: improvement of the inter-State cooperation •  Mean: providing of information or evidence to a foreign

State in order to permit the opening of a criminal proceeding or facilitate an ongoing criminal investigation.

•  Restriction 1: no evidence but only information can be transmitted if rules of secrecy apply (ex banking secrecy)

•  Restriction 2: if no international agreement exists with the foreign State, FOP decides on the transmission

•  Swiss experiences: very effectives (ex Montesinos) / Brasil. Useful in PEP cases

Spontaneous transmissions of information

Statistics 2004-2013

PEP (politically exposed persons) corner: something new ?

•  The international financial centres must form a common front to prevent the inflow of such funds, to quickly freeze assets of criminal origin and return them to the rightful owners. In some circumstances, mutual legal assistances is not (no more) the solution.

•  Act on the Restitution of Illicit Asset (LRAI) of 1.10.2010 The law comes into existence as a result of difficulties encountered by the Swiss authorities in returning assets frozen in Switzerland to so-called “failing State”. The law comprises the three instruments of freezing, forfeiture and restitution in situations of “failure”.

•  New draft Federal Act on the Freezing and Restitution of Assets of Politically Exposed Persons obtained by Unlawful Means The preliminary draft proposes a single act providing for the freezing, confiscation and restitution of potentates' assets The preliminary draft provides for the preventive freezing, as a precautionary measure, of assets of politically exposed persons. In addition, it establishes procedures for the administrative confiscation and restitution of potentates' assets. Possibility of advanced transmission of information.