Background
Combatting transnational crime by the tracing, restraint, seizure, recover and confiscation of the proceeds of crime, to strip criminals of their ill-gotten gains, has long been an ambition of INTERPOL.
As far back as 2015, a General Assembly Resolution was adopted to create a new INTERPOL notice 'devoted to the tracing and recovery of criminal assets' - the "Silver Notice".
Since that Resolution, INTERPOL has stepped up its effort to tackle global financial crime, including the creation of the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre in 2022 and the INTERPOL Financial Crime Analysis File ("FinCAF"), and in October 2022 adopted a further General Assembly Resolution setting up an Expert Working group to assess various proposals relating to the tracing and recovery of criminal assets, including the creation of the Silver Notice. In December 2023, the General Assembly approved the recommendation of the Expert Working Group to launch a pilot scheme aimed at testing the Silver Notice and Diffusion.
The implementation of the pilot scheme took a significant development on 29 July 2024 when it was announced that Silver Notices will be introduced from January 2025.
What does this mean?
While the exact mechanism of how the scheme will operate is currently unknown, Garba Umar, INTERPOL Vice-President for Africa, suggested that Silver Notices will assist law enforcement agencies in tracing and repatriating money through Mutual Legal Assistance and diplomatic channels, and through police-to-police cooperation.
The introduction of Silver Notices will no doubt provide law enforcement agencies with a boost in tracing and recovering illicit funds, however INTERPOL will need to exercise sufficient scrutiny to ensure that they are not open to abuse. It's no secret that Red Notices and Diffusions have been used by authoritarian governments to supress political opponents or have been the result of false criminal accusations made in the context of civil disputes, and there is a significant risk that Silver Notices could be abused in the same way to cause considerable financial stress.
Howard Kennedy's Business Crime & Regulatory team has considerable experience advising and assisting clients subject to INTERPOL Notices, including pre-emptive challenges to/the deletion of Notices, and dealing with any subsequent extradition proceedings.
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