Silver notices: tracing and recovering criminal assets
Back in 2015, INTERPOL announced a new “silver notice” devoted to tracing and recovering criminal assets. INTERPOL reasoning was that crime and terrorism could be better combatted if criminals and terrorists are deprived of the proceeds of crime. The need for a new silver notice was deemed to be pressing, as at the time “only 3 to 5 per cent of global illicit financial flows” had been intercepted by law enforcement.
Silver notices: latest developments
Despite the need for silver notices being deemed “pressing” back in 2015, it was in 2023 when Interpol gave the green light for a two year pilot scheme to test the Silver Notice. At the end of July 2024, at an INTERPOL workshop in Nigeria, Garba Baba Umar, Vice President of INTERPOL Africa and Isaac Oginni, Director of INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC) both spoke on the benefits of the proposed silver notice. Mr Umar stated that silver notices will prevent criminals from effectively concealing the proceeds of crime. Mr Oginni announced that the Silver Notice pilot scheme will commence in January 2025.
Silver Notices: Potential for misuse?
INTERPOL notices have been abused. Political persecution and fabricated charges have resulted in improper requests from authoritarian regimes.
It is possible that the new silver notices may be open to similar abuse. If rogue states can find means of dressing up the prosecution of dissenters, journalists and others as legitimate criminal investigations, silver notices might be used to deprive those same people of their assets. Whilst the exact mechanics of the silver notice have not been confirmed, INTERPOL must be careful to ensure that they cannot be abused.
