The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has agreed to provide the necessary support to recover money from people who have fraudulently earned assets and deposited them in foreign countries, Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said.
The Minister revealed this during a special discussion with Marco Teixeira, the South Asian Regional Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime held at the Ministry of Justice on Monday (Sep 04).
Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister said that work on recovering the money deposited in foreign countries by individuals who fraudulently acquired assets will commence in the next few days.
The UNODC is working on behalf of the World Bank to recover money from people who have fraudulently earned assets and deposited them in foreign countries, he said.
The minister pointed out that the new Bribery or Corruption Investigation Commission of Sri Lanka will have the ability to deal with such persons as the new Anti-Corruption Act comes into effect on September 15.
The Stolen Asset Recovery Assistance (StAR) system used by the World Bank and the UNODC together will take action to recover stolen assets, he said.
StAR is a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds.
StAR works with developing countries and financial centres to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of corruption and to facilitate a more systematic and timely return of stolen assets. (NewsWire)
