Chapter V
Asset recovery
Article 51.
General provision
The return of assets pursuant to this chapter is a fundamental principle of
this Convention, and States Parties shall afford one another the widest measure
of cooperation and assistance in this regard.
Article 52.
Prevention and detection of transfers
of proceeds of crime
1. Without prejudice to article 14 of this Convention, each State Party
shall take such measures as may be necessary, in accordance with its domestic
law, to require financial institutions within its jurisdiction to verify the identity
of customers, to take reasonable steps to determine the identity of beneficial
owners of funds deposited into high-value accounts and to conduct enhanced
scrutiny of accounts sought or maintained by or on behalf of individuals who
are, or have been, entrusted with prominent public functions and their family
members and close associates. Such enhanced scrutiny shall be reasonably designed to detect suspicious transactions for the purpose of reporting to competent authorities and should not be so construed as to discourage or prohibit
financial institutions from doing business with any legitimate customer.
2. In order to facilitate implementation of the measures provided for in
paragraph 1 of this article, each State Party, in accordance with its domestic law
and inspired by relevant initiatives of regional, interregional and multilateral
organizations against money-laundering, shall:
(a) Issue advisories regarding the types of natural or legal person to whose
accounts financial institutions within its jurisdiction will be expected to apply
enhanced scrutiny, the types of accounts and transactions to which to pay
particular attention and appropriate account-opening, maintenance and recordkeeping measures to take concerning such accounts; and
(b) Where appropriate, notify financial institutions within its jurisdiction,
at the request of another State Party or on its own initiative, of the identity of
particular natural or legal persons to whose accounts such institutions will be
expected to apply enhanced scrutiny, in addition to those whom the financial
institutions may otherwise identify.
3. In the context of paragraph 2 (a) of this article, each State Party shall
implement measures to ensure that its financial institutions maintain adequate
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