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GOGITIDZE AND OTHERS v. GEORGIA JUDGMENT
Article 37 § 1 CCP, demanding the confiscation of the “ill-gotten” property
and unexplained wealth.
53. Once a public prosecutor had filed a civil action for confiscation,
which had to be substantiated with sufficient documentary evidence, the
burden of proof would then shift onto the respondent. If the latter failed to
refute the public prosecutor’s claim by producing documents proving that
the property (or the financial resources for the purchase of the property) had
been lawfully acquired or that taxes on the property had been duly paid, the
court, after having ensured that the prosecutor’s claim was properly
substantiated, would order the confiscation of the property in question
(Article 21 § 6 of the CAP).
54. According to Article 21 § 8 of the CAP, the purpose of
administrative confiscation was to restore the situation which had existed
prior to acquisition of the impugned property by the public official through
wrongful means. In particular, the property confiscated in those
administrative proceedings was then to be restored to its legitimate
owner(s), which could be a private individual or a legal entity, after the
legal claims on the property of all other third parties had been satisfied. If
the legitimate owner could not be determined during the confiscation
proceedings, the property was forfeited in favour of the State (Article 21
§ 8 (1) of the CAP). Value confiscation was also possible under Article 21
§ 8 (3) of the CAP, which stated that if the property subject to forfeiture
could not be transferred to the State in its original form, the respondent
should pay monetary compensation corresponding to the value of the
property.
C. The United Nations Convention Against Corruption
55. The 2005 United Nations Convention against Corruption was ratified
and entered into force in respect of Georgia on 8 November 2008.
56. Articles 31 and 54 § 1 (c) of this Convention, which set forth the
principle of universal recognition of confiscation of property linked to
corruption, or proceeds of crime derived from corruption offences, read as
follows:
Article 31: Freezing, seizure and confiscation
“1. Each State Party shall take, to the greatest extent possible within its domestic
legal system, such measures as may be necessary to enable confiscation of:
(a) Proceeds of crime derived from offences established in accordance with this
Convention or property the value of which corresponds to that of such proceeds; ...
4. If such proceeds of crime have been transformed or converted, in part or in full,
into other property, such property shall be liable to the measures referred to in this
article instead of the proceeds.