The Criminal Assets Recovery Agency (CARA) within the National Anticorruption Center has hosted this week the Annual General Meeting 2023 of the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network, a project funded by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE). BAMIN Annual General Meeting 2023 gathered for the first time under the presidency of the Republic of Moldova to discuss about ”Achieving Success in the Cross-Border Management of Criminal Assets”. The present event aimed at improving cooperation and speeding up the exchange of information between practitioners who work within asset management authorities.

The director of the NAC, Iulian Rusu, mentioned "It is a great honor for the National Anticorruption Center to host the BAMIN Annual General Assembly 2023. I would like to highlight the importance of this event at the international level in the process of criminal assets management, establishing productive cooperation of the agencies through the exchange of experience and of operational data to solve cross-border crimes and repatriate the proceeds of crime."

The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, said "Fighting corruption is a priority of the current government. In this context, the Ministry of Justice undertakes all the necessary actions so that the mechanisms for identifying and confiscating illegally obtained assets contribute to the efficiency of their recovery for the benefit of the state and the citizens of the Republic of Moldova".

In her speech, BAMIN Senior Counsel, Jill Thomas, highlighted the trend of other states to align with the global criminal asset recovery and management process, including by joining BAMIN.

The representatives from international asset management organizations, the members from 19 agencies, 8 of which are from the Western Balkans and 11 agencies with observer status, have gathered to exchange best practices on a common platform that will strengthen their efforts in countering high-level corruption, in investigating frauds generating illicit profits and in the recovery of criminal assets, hidden in the international jurisdictions.

BAMIN is an informal network of practitioners who work operationally with asset management offices and agencies or within departments mandated to deal with the management and disposal/storage of criminal assets within their jurisdiction. The purpose of the network is to increase the efficiency of management and sale of assets derived from crimes. The main goal of BAMIN members is to improve cross-border cooperation and speed up the exchange of information between agencies.