Transparency in asset recovery has been identified as an essential part of the process across multiple international instruments and in best practice.

The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) itself includes several provisions that speak for transparency in asset recovery data. This includes Article 10 (c), encouraging State Parties to publish information to further transparency in public administration, and Article 13 (b) – (d), requiring that the public has effective access to information and that States Parties undertake public information activities that contribute to the non-tolerance of corruption. It also includes Article 61 (2), which encourages State Parties to develop and share with each other “…statistics, analytical expertise concerning corruption and information with a view to developing, insofar as possible, common definitions, standards and methodologies, as well as information on best practices to prevent and combat corruption.”

International human rights law also requires transparency around asset recovery. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Recommended Principles on Human Rights and Asset Recovery highlights transparency as “a precondition for the prevention of corruption and for the enjoyment of human rights more generally”, which is grounded in article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It further highlights General Comment 24 of the Human Rights Committee, which states that States Parties to the ICCPR should proactively put information of public interest in the public domain. The Principles also highlight obligations under the right to participate in public affairs with respect to transparency around asset recovery, as laid out in article 25 of the ICCPR, highlighting that access to information and transparency is necessary for participation in public life.

During the 2021 UN General Assembly Special Session against corruption (UNGASS), UN Member States further committed to ‘consolidate and expand the global knowledge and data collection on asset recovery and return through gathering and sharing information on challenges and good practices, as well as on volumes of assets frozen, seized, confiscated and returned in relation to corruption offences, and the number and types of cases’.

The Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) principles also highlight the important role of transparency to asset recovery. Principle 4 on Transparency and Accountability states that ‘transferring and receiving countries will guarantee transparency and accountability in the return and disposition of recovered assets. Information on the transfer and administration of returned assets should be made public and be available to the people in both the transferring and receiving country’.

The specific collection of statistics is additionally a key part of the FATF Recommendations. Recommendation 33 highlights the importance of maintaining comprehensive statistics, including on frozen, seized and confiscated property.

Civil society has called for extensive transparency provisions in asset recovery laws and policies. The Civil Society Principles for Accountable Asset Return have called for the publication, from the earliest legally possible opportunity, of the following information in an accessible manner and format to the public, including any identified victims of corruption:

• timely and accessible case information on the progress and status of asset recovery cases, including case names;
• the nature, type and estimated value of the assets under investigation;
• the legal framework through which the asset recovery process was initiated and is being undertaken;
• the nature, type and estimated value of assets seized and a timeline of planned steps for return;
• the negotiating framework, modalities for asset return and disbursement, and the foreseen role of civil society in the return;
• the disposition, administration and monitoring of returned assets.

The Principles also call for all recovered assets to be traceable at all stages of the process, and for the publication of multilateral, bilateral and case-specific agreements or arrangements should in a timely fashion and accessible manner.