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FATF Unveils Global Asset-Recovery Guidance, Citing India’s ED as a Model

The move presses governments to elevate asset recovery to a top operational priority given persistently low confiscation rates worldwide.

Overview

  • The 340-page Asset Recovery Guidance and Best Practices consolidates revised FATF standards and includes more than 85 real-world case studies and techniques.
  • India is highlighted as a prominent contributor, with ED experience under the PMLA and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act shaping guidance on value-based confiscation and provisional attachment.
  • Showcased Indian actions include Agri Gold (about ₹6,000 crore restored), IREO (₹1,777 crore attached), BitConnect crypto seizures (₹1,646 crore secured in a cold wallet) and the Banmeet Singh case (268.22 BTC seized via U.S. cooperation).
  • The framework advances tools such as non‑conviction‑based confiscation, early ex parte freezing, extended confiscation, unexplained wealth orders and rapid informal cross‑border cooperation through ARINs.
  • FATF notes most jurisdictions remain only low to moderate in effectiveness and flags legal, data, coordination, technical and judicial bottlenecks—including in India—as priorities for reform.