The Law Provides for Incentive Reward to Admin Corruption Whistleblowers
The regulation on restitution of illegal assets emanating from administrative corruption crimes is to be published along with the law on managing prison centers, the law on supreme audit office, and annex No. 1 to the law on firearms and explosives in the Official Gazette No. 1375 after approved by the Cabinet.
The regulation on restitution of illegal assets emanating from administrative corruption crimes encompasses six chapters and 35 articles, prepared to govern the duties of judicial authorities in relation to the restitution of illegal assets, preparing grounds to determine the illegal assets, transparent and effective management of sequestrated and confiscated assets, and coordination between relevant national and international organizations. Thus the said regulation has now been included into the category of legislative documents of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Based on this regulation, illegal assets denote funds or movable and immovable property that a person has acquired as a result of committing administrative corruption crimes, the restitution of which includes the confiscation of asset and a cash fine. In this regulation, the prosecution authority for implementing the provisions of this regulation and for the restitution of assets has been provided for under the Attorney General’s office.
This regulation states that the Attorney General’s Office will take action in connection with illegal assets, as per the provisions of article 37 of the law on prevention of money laundering and the proceeds of crime and the provisions of this regulation. Article 37 of the law on prevention of money laundering and the proceeds of crime, provides for the freezing, dealing with the unlawful assets and its duration considering the time period the investigations may take.
This regulation authorizes the prosecution office to order freezing of assets for a period of ten days, and in the event that the investigation is not covered within this period, it may request the court to extend the period for up to 90 days.
The prosecution office for the restitution of assets may also as per the provisions of this regulation take action for the exit ban or duty suspension of the suspect or accused of such cases as a precautionary measure. At the same time it is also authorized to freeze the assets of the suspect or the accused.
This regulation stipulates that the prosecution office shall in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not only pursue the cases related to unlawful assets transferred abroad but also to avoid the sale of unlawful movable or immovable properties.
Based on this regulation, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the National Security Directorate, The Authority for Analysis of Transactions and Reports of the Central Bank, and other relevant institutions are required to cooperate with the Attorney General’s Office to investigate the illegal assets. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for managing the unlawful restituted assets, maintaining and selling of restituted movable assets after the final verdict of the court, and to provide its report to the Attorney General’s Office.
Payment of incentive reward to whistleblowers of administrative corruption crimes is another part of the provisions of this regulation, considered at the request of the prosecution office and payable after the approval of the Admin Anti-Corruption Commission.
This provision is effective from the date of publication in the Official Gazette (April 28, 2020).
To get the full text of this legislative document, refer to the laws database of the Ministry of Justice:
