The Legal Framework for Recognising Property as Criminally Acquired and the Issues Related to It. Summary of the Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

On October 1st, 2005 new law institute – the process of criminal proceeding regarding criminally acquired property – entered into force in Latvian criminal procedure law. The necessity of such special regulation was determined by a circulation of huge amount of illegal money in a global economy, which according to some estimates several trillion U.S. dollars. Criminal groups (especially in the area of economic crimes, narcotics, arms trafficking and smuggling) illegally gain huge amounts of money annually. The majority then is invested in legal objects, properties, treasures and/or businesses. The results of the technology development, complex schemes and involved persons from different countries of the world are used to make the offenses, thus making it more difficult to detect and investigate criminal offenses. In nowadays circumstances, when the state border is no longer relevant in committing various criminal offenses, but on the contrary, the use of national rules of different countries and the specifics of the legal systems has the potential to prevent or even avoid freezing and confiscation of illegally gained goods from crime. Therefore, the importance of international co-operation between law enforcement agencies is constantly increasing. The use of equal principles and approaches in the confiscation of criminal assets ensures mutual trust and effective cooperation between countries. The European Union also seeks to approximate the legal framework for the freezing and confiscation of criminal assets in Member States. By preventing or as far as possible limiting the circulation of illegally gained money from crime, countries will make crime less profitable or even disadvantageous. In today's context, each individual country is no longer capable of effectively combating crime, which has become increasingly international and complex. Consequently, Latvia also has a duty to ensure an effective and simple mechanism for confiscating criminally acquired resources, preventing such resources from legalization and injection into a legal economy. Proceedings’ regarding criminally acquired property is one of the way's of confiscation of a property, which affects the fundamental human rights of property. However, it needs to be clarified whether the existing regulation of criminally acquired property is sufficiently effective and does it fulfil its objective. Criminal procedural regulation – proceedings regarding criminally acquired property enables, in the cases when property is withdrawed and arrested, in the light of the above-mentioned circumstances, to resolve material matters in a criminal trial in a timely manner. Such process provides a fair regulation of legal criminal relations, considering that the person’s rights cannot be restricted for disproportionately long or indefinite time or for unlimited period of time. Therefore, the state has an obligation to ensure that everyone's interests are processed in a fair and impartial process. The research is dedicated to the issues of involved persons rights to property in proceedings regarding criminally acquired property. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to investigate the content of criminal law and criminal procedural regulation, involved persons rights and obligations, the possibilities to defend their interests, as well as looking at the peculiarities of the process and pointing to the problematic aspects in the regulation. The research examine Latvian international obligations, which ensure persons rights to property in case of a confiscation of criminally acquired property. The progress of the doctoral thesis may be the basis for the further development of criminal law and criminal procedure law by improving the legal framework aimed at reducing the circulation of criminal proceeds by ensuring an effective and legal relationship based on human rights principles. The doctoral thesis enables any person to comprehensively and fully understand the essence and content of the law institute – the process of criminal proceeding regarding criminally acquired property. Additionally it ensures readers to be clear about the meaning and application aspects of the norms of law institute and to comprehensively understand the rights and opportunities of persons involved in the process and realization of their rights.