NEW DELHI, SEP 28 (PTI): The 11th Annual General Meeting of the Asset Recovery Interagency Network, Asia Pacific (ARIN-AP) commenced here on Monday under India’s presidency with New Delhi stressing the “speed of response” in ensuring the exchange of information between member countries to deprive cross-border criminals of illicit profits.
According to an official statement, the four-day conference is hosted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the federal anti-money laundering agency.
The AGM brings together delegations from member jurisdictions and observer organisations of the Network, as well as representatives from various Indian probe and intelligence agencies.
ARIN-AP, launched in November 2013, is an informal network of law enforcement and judicial contact points engaged in all aspects of recovering the proceeds of crime and ensuring cross-border confiscation of illicit assets in the Asia-Pacific region.
It seeks to improve the effectiveness of members’ efforts to deprive criminals of illicit profits through the direct and rapid exchange of information and good practice, including with jurisdictions that lack a mutual legal assistance treaty.
ED Director Rahul Navin stressed during the conference that asset recovery is a sequence of events: tracing, securing, confiscation, and management and return.
He added that “attention” should be given to cross-border confiscation, enforcement of foreign orders and repatriation so that criminal assets are not “dissipated” before probe agencies lay their hands on them.
He assured the conference that India and the ED give “high priority” to responding to such requests from member countries by using the statutory powers available to the agency to seek information and records directly from banks, financial institutions and other entities, ensuring that information sought through the Network can usually be shared quickly as intelligence.
“Since April 2024, the Directorate (ED) has executed nearly 90 per cent of the assistance requests received in full or in part,” Navin was quoted as saying by the statement.
The ED chief set out two “priorities” for the Network under India’s presidency: speed of response to requests and completion of cases.
“The meeting is expected to strengthen working relationships among contact points, encourage faster informal exchange alongside formal channels, and build a shared focus on the later stages of recovery, where confiscated assets are actually returned,” the statement said.
ARIN-AP presently has 32 member jurisdictions and 10 observers, including INTERPOL, UNODC (UN Office on Drugs and Crime), the World Bank and sister asset recovery networks from other regions.
