By Rajnish Singh

New Delhi [India], October 2 (ANI): Asset recovery must be viewed as a complete process stretching from the first lead on illicit assets to their eventual return to victims or the exchequer, Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director Rahul Navin said while addressing the closing session of the 11th Annual General Meeting of the Asset Recovery Interagency Network-Asia Pacific (ARIN-AP).

Speaking at the conclusion of the three-day meeting in New Delhi, the ED Director said asset recovery is often discussed in separate stages, with investigators focusing on tracing, prosecutors on confiscation orders and asset managers on custody, while victims may see little of the process. 

He was speaking at the conclusion of the meeting designed to bring these stages together under the theme 'Closing the Loop: From Tracing to Return'.

The Director highlighted the need for rapid cooperation in tracing virtual assets, given the speed at which such assets can move, and stressed engagement with service providers and blockchain analytics.

He also pointed to the practical importance of coordinating informal cooperation with the formal request that must follow it, saying informal cooperation delivers most when the two are planned together.

On asset management, the Director said recovery could be undone by poor custody, as an asset that loses its value between restraint and confiscation is a recovery in name only. He stressed that asset management needs to be planned from the beginning of a case.

The ED Director said the ultimate purpose of asset recovery was the return of assets, including restitution to victims, return to the exchequer and social reuse of confiscated assets. India shared its experience of restoring assets to victims at scale under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. He said this was also the measure by which the public judges law enforcement institutions.

He also highlighted discussions on non-conviction-based confiscation, noting that the effectiveness of the legal tool is tested in appellate courts, where issues such as standard of proof, reverse onus and proportionality can determine whether confiscation orders hold.

The meeting also discussed the early experience of the INTERPOL Silver Notice and cross-border tracing by foreign counterpart agencies.

The Director said asset recovery requires financial intelligence, law enforcement cooperation, prosecution, courts and asset management to work in sequence, and expressed hope that participants would leave with a fuller understanding of the entire process.

He said the value of such a meeting ultimately lies in what follows it, expressing the hope that when a request reaches another member of the network, the practitioner would already know whom to contact and the call would be answered by someone met in New Delhi.

The AGM concluded with India handing over the ARIN-AP Presidency to Singapore for 2027. David Chew, Chief Prosecutor for International Engagement at Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers, received the presidency and emphasised the importance of trust among members of the network.

The three-day meeting, hosted by the ED under India's presidency of ARIN-AP for 2026, brought together prosecutors, investigators, asset managers, financial intelligence officers and policy practitioners from member jurisdictions and observer organisations to discuss cross-border asset tracing, confiscation, management and return of proceeds of crime. The meeting was concluded on September 30.

In his concluding remarks, the ED Director also said that the exchanges at the meeting would help ARIN-AP members prepare for the next round of mutual evaluations by benefiting from each other's experience.

Discussions covered non-conviction-based confiscation, including issues relating to the standard of proof, reverse onus and proportionality, as well as the need for effective asset management to ensure that assets do not lose value between restraint and confiscation.

The meeting also discussed restitution to victims, return of assets to the exchequer and social reuse of confiscated assets. 

India shared its experience of restoring assets to victims at scale under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The ED Director said asset recovery depends on financial intelligence, law enforcement cooperation, prosecution, courts and asset management working in sequence.

The AGM concluded with the symbolic handing over of the ARIN-AP Presidency from India to Singapore, which will lead the network in 2027.

David Chew, Chief Prosecutor for International Engagement at the Attorney-General's Chambers, Singapore, received the presidency on behalf of Singapore and said: 'Trust among members was fundamental to the success of the network.'

ARIN-AP, launched in Korea in November 2013 and modelled on the CARIN network of Europe, is an informal network of law enforcement and judicial contact points dealing with the recovery of proceeds of crime in the Asia-Pacific region. It has 32 member jurisdictions and 10 observers. (ANI)