Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network

Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network
Abbreviation	CARIN
Formation	September 23, 2004 (2004-09-23)
Status	Network
Purpose/focus	Asset Recovery
Membership	Law Enforcement & Judicial Expert
Official languages	English
Full Member   Observer Member

Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network (CARIN) is an informal network of experts-practitioners in the field of asset tracing, freezing and confiscation. It is an interagency network which means that each member state is represented by a law enforcement officer and a judicial expert (prosecutor, investigating judge, etc. depending on the legal system). The purpose of CARIN is to increase the effectiveness of its members' efforts, on a multi-agency basis, to deprive criminals of their illicit profits.^[1] The concept is that the whole process from the starting point in the investigation, to the asset tracing, to end forfeiture/confiscation is covered. The representatives of the member states are called “national contact points”. All of them are English speaking because the working language of the network is English and may be contacted directly by phone or email.

The aim of CARIN is to increase the effectiveness of members’ efforts, on a multiagency basis, in depriving criminals of their illicit profits.

CARIN currently has 53 registered member jurisdictions, including 27 EU Member States and nine international organisations.^[2]

Key Objectives

In seeking to meet its aim CARIN key objectives is to:

• establish a network of contact points;
• focus on the proceeds of all crimes, within the scope of international obligations;
• establish itself as a centre of expertise on all aspects of tackling the proceeds of crime;
• promote the exchange of information and good practice;
• undertake to make recommendations to bodies such as the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, relating to all aspects of tackling the proceeds of crime;
• act as an advisory group to other appropriate authorities;
• facilitate, where possible, training in all aspects of tackling the proceeds of crime;
• emphasise the importance of cooperation with the private sector in achieving its aim; and
• encourage members to establish national asset recovery offices.

The History of CARIN

In October 2002 a conference was held in Dublin co-hosted by the Criminal Assets Bureau Ireland and Europol. The conference was attended by representatives of all Member States of the European Union and some applicant states together with Europol and Eurojust. Participants were drawn from law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities within member states. Workshops were held between practitioners and the objective was to present recommendations dealing with the subject of identifying, tracing and seizing the profits of crime. One of the recommendations arising in the workshops was to look at the establishment of an informal network of contacts and a cooperative group in the area of criminal asset identification and recovery.

The name agreed for the group was the Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network (the Camden Court Hotel Dublin being the original location of the workshops where the initiative started). The aim of the CARIN is to enhance the effectiveness of efforts in depriving criminals of their illicit profits. This is now a major law enforcement tool in targeting organised crime gangs with particular reference to financial deprivation. There is added value in that membership of the group will improve cross-border and interagency cooperation as well as information exchange, within and outside the European Union.

The official start of CARIN took place during the CARIN Establishment Congress in The Hague, 22–23 September 2004. ^[3] The aim of this congress was the establishment of an informal network of practitioners and experts with the intention of improving mutual knowledge on methodologies and techniques in the area of cross-border identification, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime. It is expected that this network will improve international co-operation amongst law enforcement and judicial agencies, which in turn will provide a more effective service.

The following states and jurisdictions attended the launch congress:

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK (including the UK Crown Dependencies of Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey and Gibraltar), and the USA.

Operation of the CARIN Network

The CARIN permanent secretariat is based in Europol headquarters at the Hague. CARIN members meet together regularly at an Annual General Meeting (AGM). Access to the CARIN network and its website is restricted only to members of the network. The organization is governed by a Steering Committee of nine members and a rotating Presidency.

Who can use CARIN?

You can request CARIN assistance if you are a law enforcement officer (police/customs/other law enforcement agency), a prosecutor, magistrate or judge, or an official from an asset recovery office or asset management office.^[4]

Steering Group

CARIN has a Steering Group with up to nine members from which one member is elected President. The Steering Group's period runs from 1 January each year and concludes on 31 December to allow for planning of the AGM. Membership of the Steering Group rotates periodically with two members offering to stand down each year to enable other Members to join the Steering Group. If the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies there a vote of all Members is taken.

The Steering Group oversees the administration of the network and receives applications for membership and observer status together with deciding if a state, jurisdiction or 3rd party meets the criteria for membership. Eurojust has a permanent observer status in the Steering Group. The Steering Group may establish working groups to examine and report on legal and practical issues. The Steering Group also assists in the preparation of the annual conference agenda and identifies areas for consideration at plenary meetings.

Membership

Full Membership is open to European Union Member States and to those states, jurisdictions and third parties who were invited to the CARIN launch congress in 2004. Each Member may nominate two representatives, one from a law enforcement officer and one from a judicial expert to be their CARIN contacts. Assets Recovery Offices may represent either law enforcement officer or the judiciary expert.

Observer status is available to states and jurisdictions that do not qualify for Member status, and non-private bodies concerned with the identification and confiscation of the proceeds of crime.

Associate status is available to bodies that, although not involved with the operational exchange of law enforcement and judicial information, demonstrate a complementary strategic role in the identification and confiscation of the proceeds of crime.

Current members

Country Membership Status  Albania Observer ARINSA Observer  Australia Observer  Austria Member  Belgium Member  Bulgaria Member  Canada Observer  Croatia Observer  Cyprus Member  Czech Republic Member  Denmark Member Egmont Group Observer  Estonia Member EUROJUST Observer Europol Secretariat  Finland Member  France Member  Georgia Observer  Germany Member  Gibraltar Member  Greece Member  Guernsey Member  Hungary Member  Iceland Observer  Indonesia Observer International Criminal Court Observer International Monetary Fund Associate Interpol Observer  Ireland Member  Isle of Man Member  Israel Observer

Country Membership Status  Italy Member  Jersey Member  Kosovo Observer  Latvia Member  Liechtenstein Member  Lithuania Member  Luxembourg Member  Malta Member  Moldova Observer  Monaco Observer  Montenegro Observer  Netherlands Member  Norway Member OLAF Observer  Poland Member  Portugal Member RRAG Secretariat Observer  Romania Member  Russia Observer  Serbia Observer  Slovak Republic Member  Slovenia Member  South Africa Observer  Spain Member  Sweden Member   Switzerland Member  Turkey Member  Ukraine Observer  United Kingdom Member UNODC Observer  United States Member World Bank Associate

Criteria to be fulfilled by each Member and Observer

The criteria required to be fulfilled by each Member and Observer is:

1. they should provide the network with clearly identified national contact point(s). The number of contact points should be the minimum necessary for effective operation of the network. Therefore it is recommended by CARIN that no more than two national contact points are nominated. One contact point should be the central agency involved in asset tracing and forfeiture. If not, this point of contact must have direct access to practitioners in this area;
2. they will supply an outline and summary of their legislation and practical procedural guidelines relating to asset forfeiture, civil and criminal, for information sharing with other Members and Observers and for inclusion on the CARIN website; and
3. to undertake to meet the objectives and functions as set out in the Statement of Intent.

Annual General Meetings

The schedule of Annual General Meetings is:

Year	Country
2004	Netherlands
2005	Ireland
2006	Austria
2007	UK
2008	France
2009	USA
2010	Czech Republic
2011	Bulgaria
2012	Hungary
2013	Ireland
2014	Spain
2015	Guernsey
2016	Netherlands
2017	Sweden

2011 AGM

Europol, in its function as the permanent secretariat of CARIN, co-organised the annual CARIN meeting which was held in Sofia between 15–16 September 2011. The AGM was hosted by then current CARIN Presidency of Bulgaria, through the activities of the Bulgarian Commission for the Establishment of Property Acquired from Criminal Activity (CEPACA), together with partners Hungary and Spain.

"Targeting Unexplained Wealth" was the focus for the 100 CARIN experts present.^[5]

The Chairperson of CEPACA Todor Kolarov put the stress at the press conference on the improvement of the cooperation between the CARIN members in terms to have a better preventive effect in asset tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation in each country and at an international scale, as well. The topic of "Targeting Unexplained Wealth" outlined Kolarov was important not only to Bulgaria, but to all CARIN members.^[6]

2012 AGM

The 2012 AGM was held in the Star Auditorium of the Danubius Health Spa Resort Margitsziget in Budapest on the 8 November 2012. A total of 44 countries (including Canada, USA, Australia, Indonesia, and South Korea) with 90 delegates took part in the meeting part. Delegates received a brief presentation on assets recovery cases in Hungary. They then received presentations on case studies and assets recovery topics with the delegates breaking into 5 workshops to draw on the past experience and knowledge of delegates, and to forster closer cooperation between police and prosecutors both at national and international levels. The Hungarian presidency of CARIN was unanimously viewed as a successful meeting.^[7]

2013 AGM

The 2013 AGM took take place in Dublin (Ireland) from 16 to 17 May 2013 at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.^[8] Opening the AGM, the Irish Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter TD, noted:^[9]

“	The UN estimates that the total amount of criminal proceeds generated in 2009 may have been as much as $2.1 trillion, or 3.6 per cent of global GDP in that year. Despite the best efforts by law enforcement agencies, unfortunately, much of the illegal profits generated worldwide remain in the hands of criminals, their associates, their friends and families. To allow such a situation to go unchecked or unchallenged would be a failing. It is entirely unacceptable to our sense of justice that those who engage in criminality, or those who may be associated with such persons, should reap significant rewards from criminality and enjoy lifestyles well beyond their legitimate means. It is incumbent on all of us to ensure that we continue to take all steps open to us to bring about a more effective and challenging response to this reality. The theme of this years CARIN conference – "recognition and implementation of alternative strategies in targeting the proceeds of crime" is particularly pertinent given the ever developing methods for the generation and concealment of unlawful financial gains. Asset recovery agencies work in a very dynamic and complex environment where the effects of globalisation, in society and in the way we communicate and do business, are exploited to provide new opportunities for illicit gain, and to conceal the proceeds of crime behind a façade of legitimacy. We too must therefore stand armed with the necessary tools and knowledge to keep pace with such developments. Of course, in such a complex and globalised environment no one can act in isolation. We need to share the wealth of information that you the practitioners have gained in this area and harness that information to inform future strategies. The Network provides a wonderful opportunity for experts to come together and do just that.	”
	— Alan Shatter TD, Minister for Justice and Equality

2014 AGM

The 2014 AGM took place in Santiago de Compostela in October 2014. In opening the AGM, the Director General of the Spanish Police, Ignacia Cosidó, stressed in his speech that "the message to criminal groups and organisations is clear: crime is not profitable; and that the fight against money laundering is a priority for the governments of our nations." The AGM was titled: "New trends in the exchange of financial information with International Financial Centres".^[10]

See also

• Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units
• International asset recovery

Other international CARIN type networks

The CARIN-style network has found favour among other jurisdictions. This has resulted in the establishment of other CARIN type informal networks.

ARIN-AP

Recognising the benefits shown by CARIN, UNODC has come with an anticipative offer through Supreme Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Korea, in a bid to wave informal cooperation among Asset Recovery Offices (ARO) in Asia and Pacific. This network is known as the Asset Recovery Interagency Network Asia Pacific (ARIN-AP). The initiative is seen as a reaction to increasing trans-border crimes and money laundering practices taking place some previous years back and that will tend to take toll in some years to come.^[11] CARIN representatives attended the first AGM meeting of the ARIN-AP in Indonesia in August 2014, where the theme of that meeting was "Cleaning Up Dirty Assets".^[12]

ARINSA

On 23-24 March 2009 delegates from law enforcement and prosecution agencies from nine countries in the eastern and southern African region met in Pretoria to discuss the creation of a new, informal network of investigators and prosecutors. This lead to the establishment of Asset Recovery Inter-agency Network for Southern Africa (ARINSA).

Countries represented at the conference were: Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It was agreed that an informal network based on the CARIN model would be of considerable help to prosecutors and investigators working on cases involving the identification, tracing, freezing, seizure, confiscation and recovery of proceeds and instrumentalities of crime, and that such a network, established in accordance with the parameters set out below, should be established without delay.^[13]

ARINWA

The first plenary meeting of the Asset Recovery Interagency Network for West Africa (ARINWA) was held in Ghana in November 2014. This event brought together 47 representatives from all ECOWAS countries, as well as Sao Tomé & Principé, with the view to reiterate the benefit of an ARIN-types network for the West African region. The meeting was an opportunity for participants to work on case examples and practical exercises in groups and to share best practices in identifying, seizing, confiscating and managing proceeds of crimes. The discussions were also enhanced by experts from Portugal, South Sudan, Brazil and France, each representing an ARIN-type regional network. A resolution of the ARIN-WA network was approved at the end of the meeting and the delegations of Ghana and Ivory Coast have volunteered to provide respectively the Presidency and the new network Secretariat, which will hold the next meeting in 2015. Last week's meeting followed a feasibility study conducted in 2013 and is a follow-up to a first regional workshop on seizure, confiscation and management of proceeds of crime held in Senegal in March 2014.^[14]

RRAG

The Red Regional de Recuperación de Activos de GAFISUD (Regional Asset Recovery Network of GAFISUD) (RRAG) is a virtual platform for exchange of information between contact points, initiated by the UN, OAS, INTERPOL and GAFISUD for South American countries. It aims to facilitate the identification and location of assets, products or instruments derived from illegal activities.^[15] It was established in 2009.^[16]

Further reading

• Greenberg, Theodore S.; Samuel, Linda M.; Grant, Wingate; Gray, Larissa (2011). Stolen Asset Recovery - A Good Practices Guide for Non-Conviction Based Asset Forfeiture. The World Bank. ISBN 978-0-8213-7890-8. 
• Brun, Jean-Pierre; Gray, Larissa; Scott, Clive; Stephenson, Kevin M (2011). Asset Recovery Book - A Guide for Practitioners. The World Bank. ISBN 978-0-8213-8634-7. 
• Golobinek, Robert (2006). Financial Investigations and Confiscation of Proceeds from Crime: Training Manual for Law Enforcement and Judiciary. The Council of Europe. 
• Criminal Assets Bureau. Annual Report 2010 (Report). Criminal Assets Bureau. 
• Serious Organised Crime Agency. Suspicious Activity Report Regime: Annual Report 2011 (Report). SOCA. p. 32. 
• United States Department of Justice and United States Department of State (2012). U.S. Asset Recovery Tools & Procedures: A Practical Guide for International Cooperation. United States Department of Justice and United States Department of State. 
• CARIN Manual. The Netherlands: European Police Office. 2012. p. 19. ISBN 9789295018938. Retrieved September 25, 2012. 
• Leaflet: Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network. Europol. doi:10.2813/14154. ISBN 978-92-95200-29-6. Retrieved 15 October 2014. 

References