As transnational criminal networks deploy increasingly sophisticated technology to conceal illicit wealth, authorities across the globe are accelerating efforts to dismantle international financial crime.
These priorities framed the agenda in Azerbaijan as delegates convened for the Third High-Level Meeting of the Heads of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Agencies of Member States of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
At the core of the summit was the implementation of the Makkah al-Mukarramah Convention.
According to the OIC, the landmark treaty represents the first multilateral anti-corruption law enforcement agreement tailored specifically for Islamic Cooperation member states, establishing a unified legal foundation to track illicit financial flows across borders.
Overcoming bureaucratic borders
Cross-border financial investigations often face significant legal barriers, a challenge highlighted alongside Malaysia’s recent asset recovery experience.
Abd Halim Bin Aman, Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, detailed his agency’s multi-year effort to trace and repatriate stolen funds following the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case.
“We managed to achieve our goal of tackling the 1MDB matter and as of today we managed to bring back home about 75% to 80% to outside countries, and we managed to bring back about 33 billion Malaysian ringgit worth of loss,” he revealed.
Originally established in 2009 as a state-owned strategic development fund, 1MDB became well-known for being embroiled in one of the world’s largest financial kleptocracy scandals, after billions of dollars were systematically siphoned off through offshore shell companies and international bank accounts.
According to the US Justice Department’s website, between 2009 and 2015, money was “laundered through major financial institutions worldwide, including in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, and Luxembourg” and “misappropriated more than $4.5 billion (approximately €4 billion) in funds belonging to 1MDB through a criminal scheme.”
The Justice Department stated it “repatriated an additional $156 million (approximately €139 million) in misappropriated 1MDB funds” to people from Malaysia and brought the total of returned funds to approximately $1.4 billion (approximately €1.2 billion).
Bin Aman also shared his views on what typically slows down such international matters.
“Bureaucracy is always being an obstacle to any investigation,” he said.
He said that the summit provides a necessary platform to share legislation and best practices to speed up investigations irrespective of legal backgrounds.
Ivica Bošnjak, Deputy Minister of Security for Bosnia and Herzegovina, outlined the unique structural and geographical pressures facing his country.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina is complicated and complex in the political part, and therefore the organization of the entire security system is complex,” Bošnjak stated.
He noted that national authorities must coordinate “16 police agencies and a whole series of other law enforcement agencies” operating across the security sector.
While the state has adopted extensive legal regulations and action plans, Bošnjak told Euronews that “much still needs to be done to refine a couple of more crucial laws” and operational strategies to tackle cross-border financial crime effectively.
Building a global enforcement coalition
Tugay Rahimli, Special Assistant to the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan, outlined the scale and primary objective of the summit.
“Today’s event brings together more than 250 participants from 46 member and service states as well as eight international organisations,” Rahimli said.
“The main objective of today’s event is to facilitate and foster international cooperation among member states, facilitate exchange of information and best practices, as well as to enhance the joint efforts to recover the assets obtained through crime,” he added.
Rahimli also pointed to a key leadership development for the host nation.
“Particularly important outcomes of today’s event that I would like to highlight is the election of Azerbaijan to chair the bureau for the next two years,” he told Euronews.
A unified legal framework
Kamran Aliyev, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan, confirmed the host nation’s immediate legislative steps regarding the agreement, the Makkah al-Mukarramah Convention, which is an agreement designed to facilitate mutual legal assistance, the exchange of information, and the recovery of assets derived through corruption.
“This convention first was adopted in 2022 in the city of Makkah, of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and this is a new platform in fighting corruption at a regional level,” Aliyev said.
The agreement operates under a framework, which incorporates 57 nations, with the intention to bypass lengthy diplomatic channels and to allow law enforcement agencies to share intelligence quickly, conduct joint investigations, and trace, freeze, and return stolen state funds to their countries of origin.
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan has joined international initiatives and international and regional conventions against corruption and has also “implemented all provisions of the conventions into our legislation.”
Fighting tech with tech
Imed Hazgui, President of the High Authority for Administrative and Financial Control in Tunisia, talked about the global nature of the conference and how the meeting “brings together about fifty Islamic states who are interested in the development of cooperation between them in the fight against corruption.”
He warned about the methods modern criminals may use to evade international sanctions.
“Today we all know that terrorist groups and organised crime groups are increasingly using developed technologies to commit their crimes, to hide the necessary means of having them, and also to escape all sanctions,” he said.
He is urging member states to integrate advanced digital tools into their law enforcement strategies to keep pace with these threats, which he says “requires a great cooperation at the level of the exchange of developed technologies, of the exchanges of the good practices in this sense, through also the increasingly use of artificial intelligence today in the fight against corruption, in the prediction of dangers and in the treatment of dangers.”