Officials and delegates attend the first annual meeting of the MENA Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, October 8–9, 2025.Photo credit: Saudi Press Agency (SPA)
New MENA asset recovery network launches in Jeddah to target corruption proceeds across borders
By Sadaf Sundas Riaz
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — October 8, 2025: Countries across the Middle East and North Africa launched a permanent regional asset-recovery network in Jeddah on Wednesday, creating a new mechanism for authorities to exchange information and cooperate in tracing, freezing, seizing and recovering illicit assets linked to corruption, financial crime and organised crime. Representatives adopted the founding charter of the Middle East and North Africa Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network, MENA-ARIN, during its first annual general meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia's Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority, Nazaha.
The network brings together countries from the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force framework and establishes national focal points intended to communicate directly on asset-recovery cases. Its objectives include secure information exchange, stronger mutual legal assistance and closer coordination between investigators and authorities seeking assets that have moved beyond their own jurisdictions. Saudi Arabia will host the network's permanent secretariat.
For OIC states, the initiative adds an operational layer to a wider anti-corruption architecture that has increasingly focused on cross-border enforcement. The OIC General Secretariat participated in the Jeddah meeting and said all 21 countries comprising the regional asset-recovery network are OIC member states. The organisation linked the initiative to its broader anti-corruption agenda, including the Makkah Al-Mukarramah Convention on cooperation between anti-corruption law-enforcement authorities.
Asset recovery remains one of the most difficult stages of major corruption investigations because proceeds can be transferred through multiple jurisdictions, financial institutions, companies and asset classes before investigators identify them. The new network is designed to shorten the distance between national authorities by creating established contact points that can exchange information and support investigations while formal judicial and mutual legal-assistance procedures move forward.
The founding statement places economic governance alongside criminal enforcement. Participating countries said recovering illegally acquired assets and disrupting the financial flows of criminal organisations can contribute to economic development as well as security and stability. The network will support cooperation in investigations and prosecutions while helping members strengthen domestic legal and institutional frameworks for confiscation and recovery.
The initiative also calls for specialised training, exchanges of best practices and stronger national asset-recovery structures. Member states are being encouraged to develop dedicated national offices or reinforce existing authorities, while the regional network provides a platform through which investigators can build relationships before a cross-border case requires urgent cooperation.
International organisations and established asset-recovery networks are participating in the Jeddah gathering alongside ministers, prosecutors, anti-corruption chiefs and financial investigators. The wider objective is to connect the new MENA mechanism with an international system of cooperation against corruption and financial crime rather than leave individual countries to pursue assets through bilateral channels alone.
The launch represents a shift from broad commitments on recovering corruption proceeds toward a permanent institutional structure designed specifically to find and return assets. Its effectiveness will ultimately depend on how quickly national focal points exchange usable information, whether domestic laws allow authorities to freeze and confiscate assets effectively and how successfully governments overcome differences between national legal systems.