INTERPOL has published its first-ever Silver Notice to help trace and recover criminal assets, combat transnational organised crime and enhance international police cooperation.
The Notice, requested by Italy, seeks information on the assets belonging to a senior member of the mafia.
The Silver Notice is the newest addition to the Organisation’s suite of colour-coded Notices and Diffusions, which enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide. It is being launched as part of a pilot phase involving 52 countries and territories, which will run at least until November 2025.
Through Silver Notices and Diffusions, member countries can request information on assets linked to a person’s criminal activities such as fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime and other serious offences.
It will facilitate locating, identifying, and obtaining information about laundered assets including properties, vehicles, financial accounts and businesses.
Countries may subsequently use such information as a basis for bilateral engagement, including bilateral requests for seizure, confiscation or recovery of assets, subject to national laws.
“Stripping criminals and their networks of illegal profits is one of the most powerful ways to fight transnational organised crime, especially considering that 99% of criminal assets remain unrecovered,” Valdecy Urquiza, INTERPOL Secretary General said. “By targeting their financial gains, INTERPOL is working to disrupt criminal networks and reduce their harmful impact on communities worldwide.”
Prefect Raffaele Grassi, Deputy Director General of Public Security and Director of the Italian Criminal Police, said:
“Italy is proud to chair INTERPOL’s Expert Working Group on Asset Tracing and Recovery. We are confident the Silver Notice and Diffusion will bring positive results, encouraging global law enforcement to enhance asset recovery efforts. It is of particular significance that this inaugural Notice has been issued at the request of investigators from the Guardia di Finanza in Palermo—a city synonymous with the Transnational Organised Crime Convention and its emphasis on the ‘follow-the-money’ principle.”
In 2023, INTERPOL’s 91st General Assembly, held in Vienna, Austria, outlined the development and implementation of the Silver Notice and Diffusion pilot through Resolution GA-2023-91-RES-11.
The resolution tasked the Expert Working Group on Asset Tracing and Recovery, in collaboration with the General Secretariat, with designing the pilot’s scope, format, conditions and safeguard measures.
While Notices are shared with all 196 member countries, Diffusions may be directed to selected relevant countries. The General Secretariat will review every Silver Notice and Diffusion for compliance with the Organisation’s rules prior to its publication or circulation.
This includes ensuring they are not used for political purposes, in contravention of Article 3 of INTERPOL’s Constitution. During the pilot phase, extracts of Silver Notices will not be published on INTERPOL’s website.
Participating countries in the pilot will be able to collectively request up to 500 Silver Notices and Silver Diffusions, with the total divided equally among all participating countries.
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