Abstract:
Effective policymaking in the judicial domain for sustainable governance requires integrating political, economic, social, and security factors. A primary concern is that certain judicial policies aimed at combating corruption and recovering illicit assets remain overly dependent on political and security considerations, thereby neglecting the human and social dimensions essential for holistic anti-corruption frameworks. Iran’s legal system enshrines anti-corruption and asset recovery as constitutional imperatives, positioning them as superior norms within its overarching policy architecture. Corruption has emerged as a priority challenge across regional, national, and international levels. Judicial rulings and state policies reveal multidimensional strategies to address this systemic issue. This article employs a descriptive-analytical methodology drawing on doctrinal legal analysis to examine anti-corruption frameworks and asset recovery mechanisms. The analysis prioritizes international conventions (e.g. UNCAC) and anti-corruption institutions, whose standards inform domestic legal harmonization globally. International coordination has institutionalized more robust anti-corruption regimes. At the national level, key interventions include: i) strengthening interagency cooperation, ii) enhanced prosecution protocols, and iii) transparency mechanisms (e.g. national corruption reports). The study addresses two core questions: 1) What are the general policies for preventing and combating corruption in Iran's legal system? 2) How does Iran’s framework operationalize illicit asset recovery? Iran’s legal system codifies these priorities under the Supreme Leader’s Five-Year Judicial Policies (Clause 3), emphasizing prevention, interagency collaboration, and asset recovery as foundational principles. This approach reflects global best practices, evidenced by comparative legal adoption.
Machine summary:
In response to the research questions, it must be said that based on the general policies of the system (Clause 3 of the five-year general judicial policies notified by the Supreme Leader), attention to the prevention of crime and corruption, the necessity of cooperation between other institutions and the Judiciary in this regard, and the necessity of recovering illicit funds and assets is one of the fundamental principles in the legal system of Iran; among the indicators of the rational nature of this rule is the acceptance of its provisions in many legal systems of the world.
The subject of recovering assets derived from corruption, in line with Article 49 of the Constitution regarding the necessity of recovering wealth derived from illicit cases, as well as the duty of the Attorney General to pursue and supervise crimes related to national property, interests, and benefits, and damages caused to public rights under Article 290 of the Criminal Procedure Code, is also noteworthy and among the important issues for the judiciary to revive public rights.
Seyyed Mostafa Kazerouni, 'Challenges of recovering assets derived from administrative and financial corruption crimes with an emphasis on the capacities and obstacles of international law for the Islamic Republic of Iran' (Promotional Chair, Tehran: Shahr Danesh Legal Research Institute, 2021) of the Constitution is the investigation of illicit wealth and its recovery from illegal acquirers, and not the crimes related to it.
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