Suchergebnisse

Based on the provisions of criminal procedure theory and criminology, the problems of international legal assistance are revealed during the pre-trial investigation for crimes of corruption in the field of official and professional activities. Special attention is paid to identifying the details of evidential activities in criminal proceedings for offences related to the provision of public services during a special pre-trial investigation (in absentia). The methodological basis of the article is a set of general and special scientific methods of legal cognition. In particular, the concept of pre-trial special investigation is formulated, its functional purpose is defined, characteristics of the carrying out of separate investigative actions (search) during the special pre-trial investigation for corruption offences. Attention is paid to issues of international cooperation to identify and search for assets in these criminal proceedings. Other problems are revealed in the use of international legal assistance to obtain evidence during the investigation of these crimes. It is concluded that a problem that arises during international cooperation during the preliminary investigation is the uncertainty in international rules on the provision of mutual legal assistance.

Countries around the world face legal impediments when dealing with the recovery of criminal assets - especially developing countries that do not have the resources to deal with the skills and creativity of criminals. The scale of the problem is growing and shows us that a more effective approach is needed to recover stolen funds. There is a perception that ,,international cooperation" in an investigation and recovery of assets refers to international legal assistance - the formal process of requesting assistance from a foreign jurisdiction. However, in practice, there is a step that should be earlier in the process, which is often ignored or forgotten and which is just as important, if not more so. This is mutual administrative assistance, often described only as ,,informal assistance". Almost all cases of corruption and embezzlement have a significant international dimension, whether it is foreign bank accounts and residences abroad or a chain of transactions circulating in several jurisdictions. To start informal international cooperation, all that is required is for an officer or prosecutor to pick up the phone or email his or her counterpart in another jurisdiction to request assistance in verifying the information to support a criminal investigation. This informal cooperation helps the investigation team to develop a better and more complete picture of the case. It helps them to identify official evidence that may be required from abroad to successfully prosecute and, ultimately, to recover any criminal assets with limited resources at hand

Jurisdiction — Territorial — International mutual assistance in legal matters — Legal nature of acts of mutual assistance — The law of Switzerland

Despite the efforts to combat illicit financial flows, money laundering and corruption, millions of lei are taken out of the country every year and hidden in other countries in the form of goods. The phenomenon of border crime is on the rise and legislation in this area remains stagnant. As the legislative provisions are partially present in various laws or conventions, some necessary provisions are missing at all. Thus, the need for a systematization and completion of legislation in the field of international legal assistance in criminal matters remains one of the priorities. The practice of other states has proven to be the most appropriate source of inspiration for improving and supplementing the legislation of the Republic of Moldova, the fact that is shown in this research. Transnational crime has shown the need for improving mechanisms to combat its impact, and facilitating the recovery of criminal assets has led the international community and the Republic of Moldova to adopt numerous conventions and treaties that still remain to be incomplete and insufficient for our country.

The legal regime of international humanitarian assistance provided during armed conflicts is based on several general legal principles. They are guiding principles that apply in all circumstances and situations, regardless of the nature of the armed conflict. The first principle entails that the state has primary responsibility to ensure that the basic needs of population under its jurisdiction are met during the armed conflict. The second principle, closely related to the first one, is the principle that third countries and international humanitarian organizations may offer assistance if a party to the conflict fails to undertake its duty to provide supplies necessary for the survival of the population. The next principles calls for the consent of all concerned parties in the provision of humanitarian assistance, as well as the duty of the parties to the conflict and all third countries to approve and facilitate the unimpeded passage of aid. The last principle is that staff involved in relief operations must be respected and protected. In addition to these general legal principles, international humanitarian assistance is regulated by a dozen of special rules covering various aspects of providing international humanitarian assistance during armed conflict. These rules are the result of a compromise between efforts to provide the vulnerable population with the necessities of life and a demand to protect the sovereignty of all parties to the conflict, but particularly of the state in which the aid is being sent. There is a difference between the rules governing humanitarian aid operations in international armed conflicts and the rules applicable in non-international conflicts. The first group of rules is far more numerous; they regulate in detail the issues related to relief actions, including the conditions for passage, delivery and distribution of consignments, the types of goods and services that can be sent, the category of persons who they are intended for, the position of the personnel engaged in these operations, and the technical conditions for implementing these rules. As regards non-international armed conflicts, the rules on humanitarian assistance are fewer, shorter and more general. These scarce rules are sometimes vague, and they mainly come down to the principle of humane treatment and the right of international humanitarian organizations to offer their assistance. Given that non international conflicts are the predominant form of armed conflict today, there is a strong tendency to extend the application of codified rules of international law governing the provision of humanitarian assistance to these conflicts. The practice of respecting almost all codified rules governing the provision of humanitarian assistance in modern armed conflicts and its wide acceptance by states and other participants confirms that the rules of customary International Humanitarian Law created in this area are applicable in both international and non-international armed conflicts.