Asset recovery key to countering illicit financial flows, OSCE event highlights

On 15 July 2025, the OSCE held a side event in Vienna focused on strengthening asset recovery efforts to combat illicit financial flows across the region. The event, organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), took place on the margins of the OSCE Security Committee meeting.

Titled “Disrupting Illicit Financial Flows: Strengthening Asset Recovery and Regional Cooperation in the OSCE Area”, the discussion emphasized the vital role of asset recovery in promoting security, development and the rule of law.

Illicit financial flows enable organized crime and corruption, allowing criminal networks to hide and reinvest profits through complex financial systems and legal business fronts. This undermines transparency, weakens institutions, and threatens stability across the OSCE region.

As Ambassador Bakyt Dzhusupov, Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities highlighted during the event, "Asset recovery is the tip of the anti-corruption spear because it denies criminals their most precious reward: their money. By returning these assets to society, we strengthen justice and rebuild trust."

The event brought together expert judges and prosecutors from Albania and Kazakhstan, as well as representatives of the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN) and civil society groups such as Libera. They shared practical national and regional experiences and tools identifying, tracing, confiscating, and repurposing criminal assets - stressing the importance of cross-border cooperation and community engagement.

Dr. Mari Neuvonen, Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland to the OSCE and representative of the 2025 OSCE Chairpersonship, underlined that "to disrupt illicit financial flows and recover stolen assets, we must equip our investigative bodies with adequate tools and resources, and foster strong transnational and multi-stakeholder cooperation."

Participants emphasized the need for sustained political commitment and donor support to ensure long-term impact. Building national capacity to detect and dismantle criminal economies remains essential for lasting regional security.

"Illicit financial flows are not just economic crimes — they are enablers of organized crime, corruption, and terrorism. Asset recovery ensures that crime does not pay and it restores justice to our societies" said Ambassador Neil Holland, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the OSCE and Chair of the OSCE Security Committee.

The event was organized with the support of the 2025 OSCE Chairpersonship of Finland and the Chair of the OSCE Security Committee, the United Kingdom, and illustrated the activities carried out under the joint TNTD–OCEEA extra-budgetary project “Strengthening Asset Recovery Efforts in the OSCE Region” funded by Italy, Austria, Germany and the United States.