INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It is with pride that the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime andthe Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) offers to the international community the Resource MaterialSeries No. 95.
Part One of this volume contains the work product of the 158th International Training Course,
conducted from 20 August to 25 September 2014.The main theme of the 158th Course was Measures forSpeedy and Efficient Criminal Trials. Part Two contains the work product of the 17th UNAFEIUNCAC Training Programme,conducted from 5 October to 12 November 2014.The main theme of the17th UNCAC Programme was Effective Measures to Prevent and Combat Corruption Focusing on
Identifying, Tracing, Freezing, Seizing, Confiscating and Recovering Proceeds of Corruption.
The 158th Course addressed the theme of rendering speedy and efficient criminal justice.Under theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, individuals who are arrested or detained on
criminal charges are “entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release.” Yet despite global
recognition of the importance of conducting speedy criminal trials, many developing and developed
countries struggle to deliver justice efficiently and in a timely manner.Failure to deliver timely justice
can result in the release or acquittal of suspects who may in fact be guilty,and it can also contributeto prison overcrowding by unnecessarily lengthening pre-trial detention periods. The 158th Course
provided the participants with the opportunity to review and reflect on the current challenges ofproviding speedy and efficient justice in criminal cases, including the collection and preservation ofevidence during the investigation phase and case management during judicial proceedings.
The 17th UNCAC Programme emphasized the importance of asset recovery and confiscation ofcriminal proceeds as countermeasures against corruption.Corruption is ordinarily committed in secretamong a very limited number of parties.This makes it very difficult for the criminal justice authorities
to obtain effective leads and to fully investigate these crimes. Moreover, laundering of proceeds ofcorruption frequently involves various methods to disguise illegal transactions.As a result,identification,tracing,freezing,seizure and confiscation of crime proceeds all require a high degree ofexpertise.
Identifying the proceeds of corruption is one of the most important keys to successful investigationof corruption offences. It is crucial for criminal justice practitioners to confiscate the proceeds ofcorruption from offenders; to realize that purpose, it is necessary to achieve accurate and speedy
identification, tracing, freezing and seizure of proceeds. M oreover, these procedures are fundamental
in that they serve as the legal basis for confiscation of illegal profits,yet they also generate key facts
necessary to successfully prove the elements of corruption offences.
UNAFEI, as one of the institutes of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Programme Network, held these training programmes to offer participants opportunities to shareexperiences,gain knowledge,and examine crime prevention measures in their related fields,as well as
to build a human network of counterparts to further international cooperation, which is vital toaddressing these issues.
In this issue of the Resource M aterial Series, in regard to both the 158th International Training
Course and the 17th UNAFEI UNCAC Training Programme, papers contributed by visiting experts,
selected individual presentation papers from among the participants, and the reports of the 158th
Course and the 17th UNCAC Programme are published. I regret that not all the papers submitted by
the participants of each programme could be published.
I would like to pay tribute to the contributions of the Government of Japan, particularly theM inistry of Justice, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Asia Crime Prevention
Foundation for providing indispensable and unwavering support to UNAFEIʼ
s international training
programmes. Finally I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all who so unselfishly assisted
in the publication of this series.
M arch 2015YAMASHITA, Terutoshi
Director of UNAFEIⅴ