Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime in the Czech Republic

1. Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crimein the Czech Republic

2. Section to Coordinate the Struggle Against Corruption www.vlada.cz The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

3. Mgr. Milan Kryštof Čech, DBA e-mail: cech.milan.krystof@vlada.cz The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

4. The Czech law enables only the forfeiture ofproceeds of crime in criminal proceedings Act. No 141/1961 Sb. Criminal Procedure Codex (procedure) Act. No 40/2009 Sb. Criminal Codex (final decision) The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

5. The general conditions for the forfeiture of property acquired offense according to the Czech law: • property was acquired by offense or as a reward for themand do not belong offender • property was acquired in exchange for property acquired by criminal offense The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

6. Legal possibilities of seizure in Criminal Procedure Codex (CPC) The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

7. Legal possibilities of confiscation in Criminal Codex (CC) The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

8. Sources of information on the property: In the Czech Republic exist only two complete central registersof property: • the Land Register- records the ownership of real estate in the country • the Register of Companies - records the majority of business companies There is no central register of bank accounts. There is no general obligation to submit property statementswhich gives a chance easy compare the legal revenue and acquired property; so it always is necessary to prove that a unclear acquired property is conected with illegal (criminal) activity. Although exists central register of dematerialized securities, also exist anonymous shares. The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

9. The most common problem is efforts of offenders to hide assets or hide true origin of his property. The amount of forfeiture assets gradually declined until 2009 when it was in 2010 developed a new methodology for searching and documenting ties between property and the offenders. The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

10. Basics of the new metodology • establishment of a central methodological workplace for whole Police by UOKFK • each police workplace which deals with the criminal investigation have a specialists who are working only in area forfeiture proceeds • include evaluation of secured proceeds in the assessment of Police Chiefs • evaluation of all investigated cases in terms of removing the proceeds ofcrime • evaluation judgments in which were not withdrawn secured proceeds of crime to find possible causes to have a chance improve police work The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

11. Legal and real situation requires intensive police work because we can not simply count for purposes forfeiture only the property listed in public records. • Moreover, common strategy of offenders is use„WHITE HORSE“ - fake owners real estate or business companies. It is therefore necessary to look after such things like: • as a connection offenders to the specific company through multiple firms in more levels as a minority shareholders • whether the offender or one of this firms does not pay for electricity, water oretc. in the building which has no formal relationship The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

12. For the possible forfeiture, assets has to be first finded and secured. It is the responsibility of the Police. „Police financial investigation“ is a part of the investigation of fundamental offence, which have todetect, document and seizure of assets of crime or the substitute valuefor the purposes of the enforcement of punishment or satisfaction of claims of the damaged party in criminal proceedings. The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

13. Number of police experts, who deal only financial investigations • UOKFK …........…………………............. 28 officers(12 experts of Department of Tax Fraud and Money Laundering16 financial investigators throughout other departments andbranches of UOKFK (Unit Combating Corruption and Financial Crimes) • Unit Combating Organized Crime…..... 12 officers • National Anti-Drug Squad……………... 10 officers • Regional Directorates (14x approx. 3 experts) .. 42 officers • District Police Directorates (81 x 1-2 experts on financial investigation)........………………………….…128 officers Total .…………………..………………... 210 officers The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

14. Police are authorized to carry out the preliminary securing assets, but within 48 hours about seizure of property has to decide: • during investigation – public Prosecutor • during the court proceedings - Judge The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

15. The role of Police financial investigators • Performs financial investigation on a request of case responsible officer. • Actively searches cases in which should be provide financial investigation. • Carries out summary financial investigation – this process is not limited to administrative steps, it includes operational investigation, analysis, acts related to seizure, measures related to storage of seized assets. • Shares information on legal/tactical obstacles encountered while investigation. • Investigates cases of legalization of proceeds of crime. • Searches for cases related to legalization of proceeds from crime. The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

16. Seized assets - statistics2004 – 2011 (x 1.000.000 CZK; 1 EURO = 24,915 CZK) provisionally securedfinally withdrawn The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

17. Ratio damage caused by crime and confiscated property (x 1.000.000 CZK; 1 EURO = 24,915 CZK) The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

18. MagnusWeb, BIZguard Software applications that enables to interconnect and visualize outputs from different open sources : • commercial register, • trade register, • insolvency register, • distraint proceedings, • information on securities issued in the Czech Republic, • media monitor. The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

19. MagnusWeb • an extensive database of economic information. It contains data about Czech enterprises and stock market • contains information about securities issued in CZ territory, description of events related to Czech enterprises and economy • covers relevant press services • includes the archive of Collection of Documents (from Commercial Register) and a tool for financial analysis The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

20. MagnusWeb The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

21. MagnusWeb – basic inquiries The system enables to search information on specific natural/legal person in user friendly environment The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

22. MagnusWeb – advance inquiries • Advanced inquires enable to : • depict tree-structured file, • visualize financial statements in relevant period, • print out summary overview The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

23. MagnusWeb – tree-structure • Summary report in tree-structured file contains: • name, identification, registered seat, creation date, contact details, number of employees, annual turnout, financial statements, ownership, composition of executive bodies, auditors, customers, data from Collection of Documents, media coverage, information from the internet The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

24. MagnusWeb – Financial Statements The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

25. BIZguard Database application that creates a graphic image of interconnection among economic subjects in the Czech Republic. • The application extracts data from MagnusWeb database. The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

26. BIZguard – outcome example The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

27. BIZguard – outcome example The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

28. Conclusion Also in situation when: • absent property statements, • non-existent central register of bank accounts, • existanonymous shares is possible to achieving excellent results in withdrawing the proceeds of crime, The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

29. but: • is needed to have more police specialists only for this activity, • is needed to build an effective organization of the police, • is necessary to use powerfull software tools to evaluate all the information and links it. The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

30. Thank you for your attention The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic