September was very busy for the Cooperation component in its role as a go-between for Justice Systems in the EL PAcCTO programme. A series of virtual actions were promoted on different strategic issues and with a broad geographical approach. All of them will continue during October.

The fight against crime and criminal assets

In September, at a regional level, several working meetings were held with the Colombian Special Assets Corporation (SAE), the Organisation of American States (OAS) and with specialists in the subject from the Portuguese Attorney General’s Office, the Spanish Ministry of Justice, and the Justice component team from EL PAcCTO. The programme highlighted the importance of working in specialised networks in the fight against crime, so these meetings aim to lay the foundations to create an exchange network, for best practices between entities managing assets derived from crime between both continents.

Also within this line of action but at the national level, several meetings were organised with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Police, and the National Programme for Seized Assets (PRONABI) in Peru. They met with specialised prosecutors from Portugal, Italy and Spain to improve the system for locating and recovering assets arising from criminal sources by identifying key elements enabling the definition of a policy on the matter, and relevant recommendations for possible legal and organisational reforms in Peru.

Operational capacities of justice institutions

The programme has also continued to work on strengthening national coordination at the operational level. This is to be achieved by promoting Specialised Multidisciplinary Teams (EME), uniting specialised people from various institutions along the penal chain, to face specific problems. In this context, several working meetings were held with the Prosecutor’s Office, the Police and the Financial Analysis Unit in Panama, as well as specialised experts from the Spanish State Prosecutor’s Office and the French Ministry of Justice, with the aim of creating an EME to deal with tax offences.

Working meetings were also held to strengthen operational capacities in Guatemala, between the country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, and National Police, as well as specialised experts from the Portuguese Judicial Police and the Spanish State Prosecutor’s Office, to develop action protocols for use in the special investigating techniques required by undercover agents.

One of the national measures with the greatest strategic significance that began in September concerns the development of a fiscal policy in Mexico, framed within the country’s transformation process. This initiative is being carried out by the Support Unit for the Justice System in the Ministry of the Interior, the prosecutors’ offices in the States of Veracruz and San Luis Potosí and the Attorney General’s Office in the state of Hidalgo. In addition, under a South-South approach, specialists are participating from the Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Spanish Constitutional Court.

International judicial cooperation

Another highlight was the holding of the first High Level Encounter Between Judicial Institutions in Latin America and the European Union in which supranational Latin American entities participated, such as the Conference of Ibero-American Justice Ministers, the American Association of Public Prosecutor’s Offices and the Ibero-American Judicial Summit, as well as European entities including Eurojust and the European Network of Supreme Courts of Justice. It was a significant step forward in terms of international judicial cooperation and preparation for a face-to-face and strategic meeting next year.

Cybercrime

Finally, in the context of the cross-cutting issues addressed by the programme, consultancy was also undertaken to lay the foundations for the creation of the Specialised Cybercrime Unit within the Attorney General’s office in Peru through work meetings with specialists in the subject from the Portuguese State Prosecutor’s Office and Attorney General’s Office.