Tuesday 27 January 2015
The agreement is a further enhancement of the strong relationship between Guernsey and the USA government on information-sharing and mutual legal assistance, and comes a few days before the Chief Minister attends a number of meetings while in Washington to further strengthen the Guernsey-USA relationship.
The agreement was approved by the Policy Council's External Relations Group, and signed by HM Procureur Howard Roberts and Kenneth A. Blanco, the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the USA Department of Justice in Guernsey on 27 January 2015.
Mr Blanco was also joined in Guernsey by Jack de Kluiver, the Assistant Deputy Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section at the United States Department of Justice, and Michael J. Burke, the Senior International Counsel in the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section of the United States Department of Justice.
HM Procureur commented:
"It is a great testament to the relationship that the Guernsey Law Officers and law enforcement have with the Department of Justice in the USA that Ken and his colleagues have travelled to the Channel Islands to formally conclude this agreement. We are grateful for the time they have taken to travel here and to meet representatives of Chambers and the States of Guernsey.
"Guernsey has a strong working relationship with the USA in the area of financial crime and has assisted the USA on a number of investigations. Currently any agreement for the sharing of assets is done on a case by case basis and this will be the first formally concluded asset sharing agreement. The benefits of such an agreement with the USA include the ability to set clear guidelines and apply a consistent approach to asset sharing rather than on a case by case basis. The USA has significant forfeited funds which they wish to share with the Guernsey seized asset fund, and they require an agreement to be in place in order to do so.
"This year Guernsey has the honour of holding the Presidency of CARIN, the Camden Assets Recovery Inter-agency Network. Guernsey's Presidency of CARIN underlines the successes that we have secured in Guernsey in relation to criminal proceeds, and also to the building of cross-border co-operation between jurisdictions big and small. In the changing global environment, and with the challenges that it brings, it has become important to ensure that alliances and partnerships which are often forged through informal networks such as CARIN, are underpinned by agreements and accords, demonstrating commitment to shared aspirations."
Mr Blanco, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the USA Department of Justice, commented:
"The consistent and reliable cooperation we receive from our counterparts in Guernsey has been indispensable to our efforts to recover many millions of dollars in criminal assets from abroad. Because a number of pending USA investigations and prosecutions involve assets located in this important international financial centre, today's agreement can be expected to serve as a useful tool for asset recovery and sharing in the future."
Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq, the Chief Minister of Guernsey, said:
"When our Treasury & Resources Minister met with representatives of the USA Department of Justice in Washington in 2013, Guernsey was described as a "fantastic partner" in asset sharing cases. That is a tribute to the superb work that our authorities carry out in countering financial crime, and the asset-sharing agreement is a culmination of the important work that is done in partnership with the USA Department of Justice.
"While I am in Washington next week, I will be ensuring it is understood that Guernsey is a good global citizen that takes its responsibilities on fighting financial crime seriously. The asset-sharing agreement is a timely and powerful demonstration of that to our friends and partners in the USA.
"It is of significance that this is the first bilateral international agreement outside of tax matters that Guernsey has signed under entrustment, further enhancing Guernsey's international identity."
ENDS
Additional Information
- Guernsey has strong working relationship with the USA on the combating of financial crime and has been involved in a number of joint investigations with the US Department for Justice.
- Where a country enforces a confiscation order made by the courts of another country, the normal default position is that assets remain in the country that enforces the order, not in the one that initiated the request. An asset sharing agreement enables part of the proceeds to be returned to the initiating country, forming an added incentive for co-operation in enforcing confiscation orders.
- There is no legal precondition for a formal asset sharing agreement to be in place with a third country before this can happen and therefore an ad hoc arrangement can be entered into on a case by case basis. The major exception in international practice being where the assets relate to the proceeds of certain forms of corruption such as embezzlement of state funds, in that case, the funds are returned directly.
- The USA asset sharing programme has been in place since 1989 with an aim to increase international co-operation and joint investigations in cases involving narcotics trafficking and money laundering, offering the possibility of sharing forfeited assets.
- Guernsey currently has ad hoc asset sharing agreements with other jurisdictions, but this would be the first formally agreed asset sharing arrangement. The benefits of such an agreement are to set clear guidelines and a consistent approach to asset sharing rather than on a case by case basis
- This would be of specific benefit with the USA, who have significant forfeited funds which they wish to share with the Guernsey seized asset fund, and which they require an agreement to be in place in order to do so.
