Recital (22)

The criminal offence of enrichment from corruption offences should cover the conduct of a public official who acquires, possesses or uses property which the public official knows to be derived from corruption offences committed by another public official. The offences of enrichment from corruption offences and concealment are without prejudice to Directive (EU) 2018/1673 of the European Parliament and of the Council and in particular Article 3(5) and recital 11 on self-laundering thereof, where applicable. When considering whether property is derived from any kind of criminal involvement in a corruption offence and whether the person knew that, the specific circumstances of the case should be taken into account, such as the fact that the value of the property is disproportionate to the lawful income of the accused person and that the criminal activity and acquisition of property occurred within the same time frame. It should not be necessary to establish knowledge of all the factual elements or all circumstances relating to the criminal involvement, including the identity of the perpetrator. In addition, the proceeds obtained from corruption offences can be confiscated on the basis of Directive (EU) 2024/1260 of the European Parliament and of the Council. That Directive also includes provisions on other types of confiscation including, under certain conditions, on the confiscation of proceeds, or other property the value of which corresponds to proceeds, which were transferred by a suspected or accused person to third parties, or which were acquired by third parties from a suspected or accused person, where the relevant third parties knew or ought to have known that the purpose of the transfer or acquisition was to avoid confiscation.