FIGHTING AGAINST THE ILLICIT TRAFFICKING OF CULTURAL PROPERTY Cross-border training workshop for authorities from the Republic of Moldova and Romania Rome, Italy, 12-16 November 2018 Monday, 12 November

1. Fighting against Illicit Traficking of
Cultural Property-Training Workshop
Rome, Italy, 12-16 November 2018
THE STATE OF THE ART IN FIGHTING THE ILLICIT TRAFFICKING
OF CULTURAL PROPERTY IN ROMANIA
Professor Augustin LAZĂR,
Prosecutor General Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of
Cassation and Justice
Romania

2. European investigation order
Key features/ Advantages
 European investigation Order - Directive 2014/41/UE -
Romania missed transposition deadline, but starting
December, 17, 2017, EIO applies also here.
 mutual recognition based instrument - execution of ‘orders’
instead of granting assistance as ‘requested’ / speediness and
prioritisation as in national cases (30/90 days)
 for any investigative measure, instead of ‘widest measure of
mutual assistance’ (CoE 1959 Convention)
 most MS bound by EIO directive
 replaces “corresponding” provisions of CoE 1959 MLA
Convention + 1978 and 2001 Protocols /1990 Schengen
Implementing Convention / 2000 EU MLA Convention + 2001
Protocol

3. Case study
How it worked then, how would have work today or in the
future?
Dedicated to: European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018/
Our heritage: where the past meets the future
 Romanian ongoing investigation regarding the protection of the
national cultural heritage(UNESCO heritage)
 Journalistic investigation: a spiral coming from a ancient
treasure stolen from the Sarmizegetusa Regia site, 2002 Febr.
 The start of an European investigation, where the judicial
cooperation played a crucial part
 Face to face meetings, phone calls, rogatory letters, account
identification, money laundering investigation
 Judicial authorities and forces involved from 15 states
 Treasure recovered and brought back to Romania, nowadays
exhibited at The National History Museum Bucharest (22 kg of
gold artifacts, thousands gold and silver coins, tabulae of
ancient laws etc.)
 years investigation until trial

4. 4
The site “SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA”, the former capital of the
Dacian kingdom, monument of the Romanian cultural heritage /
UNESCO monument
• Is there a criminality against the cultural heritage? How can it
be known and fought against?
• What are the connexions and the criminal itinerary for the
illegal sale of the stolen goods?
• What modus operandi do the actors of the illicit trade in cultural
stolen goods have?
• Is the “laundry” of the stolen cultural goods possible in order to
erase the criminal tracks?

5. 5
Monuments of Romania’s ancient history: first known images of the Dacian
treasures - The Trajan’s Column – the scene of the surrender of the Dacian
aristocrats offering gold gifts to the emperor (105-106 A.D.) CASUS BELLI
/The treasure of Decebalus Rex- historic Lucius Claudius Cassius Dio

6. 6
The journalistic investigation: the spiral coming from the
treasure stolen from the “SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA” site,
2002,February

7. 7
CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
HYPOTHETICAL
GRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTION OF THE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
The plundered archeological context

8. 8
EUROJUST’S ROLE IN FACILITATING
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY:
1. MODUS OPERANDI SYSTEM
“freezing” : 5-6 years of the stolen cultural goods, with the closest foreign
banks, known as firm in preserving the banking secret.
-“triangulation” : the exporting of artifacts by a third state which did not ratify
UNESCO conventions, such being directed to the markets that supply the
largest profit.
-“fragmentation” of the archaeological objects or failure to restore them aims
at facilitating their concealing upon the customs check, and at increasing
the proceeds of the sale of such fragments, named in the slang of this job
“orphans”.
-“launder” : especially the serial goods, such as the coins, are frequently
introduced in private collections or in collections that are not entirely
documented, in order to “launder” them, to grant them a legitimate origin.
 the indication as artifacts' origin location of huge areas belonging to the
same culture, the sellers' cautious operation method, avoiding to locate
their origin on the site of provenience. –
Antiques laundering is a fraudulent manoeuvre meant to dissimulate the illicit
origin and nature of the archaeological pieces resulting from the criminal
activity

9. 9
MODUS OPERANDI SYSTEM /EUROJUST essential role in
facilitating assistance and providing support to investigators
 ”tender”: the seller has the possibility to conceal the eBay identity of the tenderers
who, under the circumstances, do not know who their trading partners are.
 ”buy it now”: the seller who presents its artifact sets a fixed price, a method which
is known on the eBay domain under the name “buy it now for this price”.
 divided in tranches : the same cautious operation method, sellers are putting up
for sale large treasures, divided in tranches of tens or hundreds of pieces at each
tender session
 ”back-up prices”: offer a tenderer the possibility to procure pieces when he/she
reaches their prices. The artifact is thus sold to the tenderer only when such price is
offered. Otherwise, the piece is replaced in the tender procedure upon a future
session.
 Information on financial accounts / European investigation Order
2. ITER CRIMINIS/CRIMINAL ITINERARY
 - the trajectory: - taking the artifacts from the area of origin
 - illegally taking the artifacts out of the source country
- legally introducing the artifacts in the coutry through the art market
- selling the artifacts – intermediary agents or traders
- art gallery owners or well-known traders

10. 10
3.PUNCTUM SALIENS
CHARACTERISTIC POINT OF THE
CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
Dirty tracks; Interpol searchPecunia non olet? Pecunia olet!
Money have no smell? Money do have smell!
Il denaro sporco ha odore, ha sapore ed ha anche colore” “dirty money has smell, taste and also color”
Information on financial accounts / European
Investigation Order
IDENTIFICATION DETAILS
Gold koson coins Silver koson coins

11. 11
TECHNICAL EXAMINATION REPORT
- 27 th December 2002, Los Angeles, Ca -
LOCALIZATION OF THE STOLEN ARTIFACTS
International judicial cooperation
LOS ANGELES, Ca, USA
- 27 th December 2002 –
2 spirals: 680 gr. and 765 gr.

12. 12
THE TRACKS OF THE CRIMINAL ITINERARY: DOCUMENTS FOR SALE

13. 13
14 November 2006. The cooperation with the French authorities to
retrieve a Dacian bracelet in Paris, Grand Palais – FLAGRANCY
(La biennale des antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris)
INTERNATIONAL JUDICIAL COOPERATION

14. 14
Louvre Museum Expertise
European Judicial Network ( EJN)- contact points -
judges, prosecutors/other officials from the central authorities or other judicial
authorities involved in cooperation activities
MUTUALIZING THE COMPETENCES IN THE AREAS OF EXPERTISE

15. 15
Gold spiral recovered at Hunedoara, Romania; undercover
investigations Flagrancy, 12th of June 2007.
Condemnation: 2 years of prison for concealment, art. 221 Penal code

16. 16
THE 13 GOLD SPIRALS RECOVERED until june
2011
D E C E B A L U S V I N C I T !

17. 17
CROSS-INSTITUTIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Great Britain,
Nederland, Romania, Serbia, Span, Slovenia, Switzerland, U.S.A.
Investigative Task Force
THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE
-EXPERTS -

18. 18
DEUXIÈME RENCONTRE SUR LA PROTECTION DES BIENS
CULTURELS EN EUROPE DU SUD-EST
Belgrade, Juilllet 2014
Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herțegovina, Grecia, Macedonia, Muntenegru, România,
Serbia, Slovenia, Franța

19. 19
CONCLUSION
• European judicial cooperation has progressed remarkably from cooperation
instruments addressed to the central state authority to direct requests made
between law enforcement agencies and then to the European Investigation Order.
Through common investigations and international cooperation the criminality
against the cultural heritage can be known and fought against.
• For terrorist offenses, crimes against European funds and cross-border crimes,
the effective solution for combating will be the future office of the European
Prosecutor's Office.The networks through which the looted items circulate, from the
sites until the public auctions are known, as they are always the same in a small and
specialized world.
• Cooperarea judiciara pentru protectia patrimoniului cultural si natural
(Convenția privind protecția patrimoniului mondial, cultural și natural, Paris, 1972;
Convenția UNIDROIT privind bunurile culturale furate sau exportate ilegal, Roma,
1995 ).The Modus operandi used by the actors of the illicit trade in looted cultural
goods is well-known.
The “laundry” of the looted cultural goods is not possible. They leave behind
the dirty tracks of the criminal acts.
JUDICIAL COOPERATION QVO VADIS?