Procedural differences between mutual legal assistance and international informal assistance

Countries around the world face legal impediments when dealing with the recovery of criminal assets - especially developing countries that do not have the resources to deal with the skills and creativity of criminals. The scale of the problem is growing and shows us that a more effective approach is needed to recover stolen funds. There is a perception that ,,international cooperation” in an investigation and recovery of assets refers to international legal assistance - the formal process of requesting assistance from a foreign jurisdiction. However, in practice, there is a step that should be earlier in the process, which is often ignored or forgotten and which is just as important, if not more so. This is mutual administrative assistance, often described only as ,,informal assistance”. Almost all cases of corruption and embezzlement have a significant international dimension, whether it is foreign bank accounts and residences abroad or a chain of transactions circulating in several jurisdictions. To start informal international cooperation, all that is required is for an officer or prosecutor to pick up the phone or email his or her counterpart in another jurisdiction to request assistance in verifying the information to support a criminal investigation. This informal cooperation helps the investigation team to develop a better and more complete picture of the case. It helps them to identify official evidence that may be required from abroad to successfully prosecute and, ultimately, to recover any criminal assets with limited resources at hand