Person:
Brun, Jean-Pierre
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Stolen asset recovery,
Financial Sector Development,
Financial Integrity
Degrees
Departments
Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Pracies
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
June 28, 2023
Biography
Jean-Pierre Brun is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist for financial market integrity (FMI) in the Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice, the World Bank Group, since August 2008. Jean-Pierre is responsible for leading and conducting technical assistance and contributing to the policy dialogue related to the financial market integrity and the recovery of proceeds of corruption as part of the World Bank’s FMI activities, as well as for the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), a partnership with the United Nations. Jean-Pierre provides policy advice to countries on anti-money laundering and the combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), asset recovery, and building country capacity to conduct financial investigations and prosecute grand corruption cases. Jean-Pierre specializes in the strategic, tactical and technical aspects of investigation, prosecution, and legal analysis of AML/CFT and grand corruption cases. Previously, he was a Director of Investigations for Deloitte, worked as a Prosecutor specializing in AML/CFT and organized crime at the Tribunal of Paris, and had experience as a Government Auditor and an investigative judge. Jean-Pierre, a French national, holds degrees in Political Science and Law from Paris University, and from the French National School for Magistrates.
Publication Search Results
1 - 7 of 7
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Publication
Asset Recovery Handbook : A Guide for Practitioners
(World Bank, 2011-01-18)The handbook is organized into nine chapters, a glossary, and ten appendixes of additional resources. Chapter one provides a general overview of the asset recovery process and legal avenues for recovery, along with practical case examples. Chapter two presents a host of strategic considerations for developing and managing an asset recovery case, including gathering initial sources of facts and information, assembling a team, and establishing a relationship with foreign counterparts for international cooperation. Chapter three introduces the techniques that practitioners may use to trace assets and analyze financial data, as well as to secure reliable and admissible evidence for asset confiscation cases. The provisional measures and planning necessary to secure the assets prior to confiscation are discussed in chapter four; and chapter five introduces some of the management issues that practitioners will need to consider during this phase. Confiscation systems are the focus of chapter six, including a review of the different systems and how they operate and the procedural enhancements that are available in some jurisdictions. On the issue of international cooperation, chapter seven reviews the various methods available, including informal assistance and mutual legal assistance requests; and guides practitioners through the entire process. Finally, chapters eight and nine discuss two additional avenues for asset recovery-respectively, civil proceedings and domestic confiscation proceedings undertaken in foreign jurisdictions. -
Publication
Unexplained Wealth Orders: Toward a New Frontier in Asset Recovery
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-28)Several countries have in recent years introduced the unexplained wealth order (UWO) as a tool to improve recoveries of the proceeds of crime—particularly kleptocracy, the fruits of corruption by government officials. While it is too early to be able to draw any definite conclusions as to its effectiveness in curbing corruption, the UWO contains novel ideas that are worth examining in more depth. UWOs oblige persons suspected of corruption or other serious crimes in these countries to explain the origin of their wealth and discrepancies between their legitimate sources of income and the value of their assets. UWOs are a civil, not criminal action and can be an invaluable tool in asset recovery cases in which cross-border identification and tracing of criminal and corrupt assets is a challenge for relevant investigative agencies and prosecutors. The report provides suggestions on approaches to develop similar policies and makes recommendations for future efforts to use UWOs to combat money laundering and corruption. The purpose of this study is to provide policy makers with an overview of UWO systems by placing them in the context of other asset recovery tools and drawing lessons for countries contemplating the introduction of UWO-type legislation. While the design and implementation of UWO systems are very much in a state of evolution, they may fill a gap in asset recovery systems. UWO systems, like other legal tools, depend on other legal and institutional aspects in each jurisdiction. If a country considers implementing a UWO system, it should form part of a more comprehensive whole of policies and must be adapted to the specific legal context. For example, countries that have established a strong forfeiture system based on value confiscation or civil confiscation, not requiring prosecutors to show a link between assets and a crime, may not need UWOs as much as other countries that have not. -
Publication
Taxing Crime: A Whole-of-Government Approach to Fighting Corruption, Money Laundering, and Tax Crimes
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022)Taxing Crime: A Whole-of-Government Approach to Fighting Corruption, Money Laundering, and Tax Crimes examines how tax audits and investigations can lead to uncovering white-collar crime and how investigations of corruption can, in turn, lead to prosecutions of tax evasion or recovery of unpaid taxes. Prepared jointly by the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) and the Global Tax Policy Center at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law, Vienna University of Economics and Business, this report offers analysis, case studies, examples of legal and operational frameworks, and recommendations that policy makers can use to enhance cooperation between tax authorities and law enforcement agencies at the national and international levels. This study is designed to serve as a reference and source of advocacy for policy makers, but it may be useful to other practitioners as well, including law enforcement officials, investigating magistrates, and prosecutors. Specifically, chapters present strategic considerations for establishing communication channels between tax and criminal investigative agencies; suggestions for combining tax and financial crime prosecution as part of an interagency asset recovery strategy; and approaches to developing interagency information exchange at the regional and international levels. It concludes with recommendations on ways to enhance the roles of both the tax authorities in combating money laundering and corruption and of the law enforcement authorities in recovering the proceeds of tax crimes. -
Publication
Going for Broke: Insolvency Tools to Support Cross-Border Asset Recovery in Corruption Cases
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020)The cost of official corruption is high: it degrades public trust, impedes economic development, and undermines the rule of law. Countries around the world are increasingly using asset recovery measures to pursue justice in official corruption cases and restore funds to public use. Successful application of bankruptcy or insolvency law can make or break a corruption case. Going for Broke: Insolvency Tools to Support Cross-Border Asset Recovery in Corruption Cases is intended as a guidebook for asset recovery practitioners for the use of bankruptcy proceedings in their work. It is offered as a complement to our prior texts: Public Wrongs, Private Actions and Asset Recovery Handbook. Going for Broke offers practical advice to inform insolvency representatives, law enforcement officials, policy makers, and those entrusted with recovering their nations’ stolen assets about the ways in which insolvency can be effectively be employed—either to complement an existing civil or criminal asset recovery action or as a stand-alone procedure for recovery. It may also serve as a quick reference for other practitioners, including auditors, accountants, and others who deal with corruption and asset recovery. -
Publication
Orders without Borders: Direct Enforcement of Foreign Restraint and Confiscation Decisions
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-12-13)This book offers an in-depth analysis of the concept of the direct enforcement of foreign restraint and confiscation orders, a crucial step in the process of asset recovery, including existing legal approaches and related challenges. In order to provide a balanced and informed overview, 31 jurisdictions, representing different United Nations regional groups and legal systems (civil law / common law / mixed systems), were selected as the focus of the analysis. This approach provides a meaningful picture of the situation worldwide from which generally applicable guidance could be drawn. The study suggests a series of practical steps and good practices for consideration by (1) countries exploring the possibility to introduce a direct enforcement mechanism into their domestic legal frameworks and (2) countries already in a position to directly enforce foreign confiscation orders but that are considering options to streamline processes and maximize results obtainable via direct enforcement approaches. This new StAR Initiative knowledge product is addressed to a broad range of law enforcement, justice, and asset recovery practitioners, as well as bodies involved in legislative and regulatory processes, and will be useful tool in their work. -
Publication
Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners, Second Edition
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-12-10)The Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners has been updated in 2020 by the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) initiative, a joint initiative of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime and the World Bank focused on encouraging and facilitating a more systematic and timely return of stolen assets. Designed as a how-to manual, the handbook guides practitioners as they grapple with the strategic, organizational, investigative, and legal challenges of recovering assets that have been stolen by corrupt leaders and hidden abroad. It provides common approaches to recovering stolen assets located in foreign jurisdictions, identifies the challenges that practitioners are likely to encounter, and introduces good practices. By consolidating into a single framework, information that is dispersed across various professional backgrounds, the handbook has enhanced the effectiveness of practitioners working in a team environment. After 10 years of serving as a recognized reference for practitioners and trainers since it was first published in 2011, the StAR initiative decided to develop this updated version by incorporating developments based on the experience collected during this decade, including new legislation and case examples. This 2020 second edition emphasizes the need to utilize innovative strategies and technical tools, including in the context of international cooperation. -
Publication
Barriers to Asset Recovery : An Analysis of the Key Barriers and Recommendations for Action
(World Bank, 2011-06-20)Theft of public assets from developing countries is an immense problem with a staggering development impact. These thefts diverts valuable public resources from addressing the abject poverty and fragile infrastructure often present in such countries. Although the exact magnitude of the proceeds of corruption circulating in the global economy is impossible to ascertain, estimates demonstrate the severity and scale of the problem at $20 to $40 billion lost to developing countries each year. What this estimate does not capture are the societal costs of corruption and the devastating impact of such crimes on victim countries. Theft of assets by corrupt officials, often at the highest levels of government, weakens confidence in public institutions, damages the private investment climate, and divests needed funding available for core investment in such poverty alleviation measures as public health, education, and infrastructure. This study's key objective is to mobilize policy makers on the existing difficulties in stolen asset recovery actions and convince them to take action on the featured recommendations. Such action will enhance the capacity of practitioners to successfully recover stolen assets.