Niall Hearty assesses the challenges involved in ensuring mutual legal assistance between states

The next head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) working group on bribery wants to speed up the process for states sharing information.

Daniëlle Goudriaan, who takes up her position in 2023, says there needs to be more urgency in the mutual legal assistance request system.

With this in mind, Rahman Ravelli’s Niall Hearty wrote an article examining the issues surrounding mutual legal assistance.

In his piece, which was published by Fraud Intelligence, Niall says that requests for such assistance may not be responded to immediately by an overworked, under-resourced enforcement agency in another country.  While there are arguments for having investigators, prosecutors and even judges that specialise in bribery cases, Niall stresses that this approach may not be trouble free.

He highlights some legal cases that have curtailed enforcement agencies’ overseas reach when it comes to investigations. Niall also examines the role of the EPPO (European Public Prosecutor’s Office) in ensuring effective cross-border cooperation.

He emphasises that while mutual legal assistance treaties may not be the quickest or most foolproof tool, they do remain effective.

Niall's article featured in Fraud Intelligence.