Slovakia’s Justice Ministry (MS SR) will prepare a new law with measures against assets acquired from wrongful sources, in cooperation with Italy. The preparation of such a law and experiences with its practical application were on the programme of discussion between representatives of the Italian justice ministry and the State Secretary of MS SR, Anna Vitteková, the SITA newswire reported.
Justice Minister Harabin had asked his Italian counterpart for help with the law at the beginning of 2009.
The Italian law relates to the assets of people connected with the mafia. Confiscation of the assets is an administrative sanction, and therefore it is not subject to the presumption of innocence or the ban of retroactivity. It also doesn’t violate ownership rights, which was confirmed by the European Court for Human Rights which ruled that the ownership right can be suppressed for the sake of public interest, SITA reported.
Based on its law, courts in Italy have confiscated €60 million between 2005 and 2008.
Compiled by Michaela Stanková from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
