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Revista Científica General José María Córdova

Print version ISSN 1900-6586On-line version ISSN 2500-7645

Rev. Cient. Gen. José María Córdova vol.20 no.38 Bogotá Apr./June 2022  Epub Apr 01, 2022

https://doi.org/10.21830/19006586.904 

Dossier

States' main directions and forms of international cooperation against transnational economic crimes

Principales orientaciones y formas de cooperación internacional de los Estados contra los delitos económicos transnacionales

Volodymyr I. Zavydniak1  * 
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9874-0346

Iryna O. Zavydniak2 
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4513-6529

Liubov V. Omelchuk3 
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8489-3237

Lilia V. Polunina4 
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0946-3568

Tetiana M. Suprun-Kovalchuk5 
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3387-3698

1 Is a Ph.D. in Legal Sciences, Professor of the Department of Criminal Procedure and Criminology at the University of SFS of Ukraine. He is the author of approximately 100 research and methods papers. He is a researcher on international cooperation, case law, and other issues on criminal procedure. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9874-0346 - Contact: zavydniak8194@edu-knu.com

2 Is a Ph.D. in Law, Associate Professor of the Department of Criminal Procedure and Criminology at the University of SFS of Ukraine. She is the author of 46 research and methods papers. She is a researcher on international cooperation and investigating transnational economic crimes. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4513-6529 - Contact: ir-zavydniak8194@acu-edu.cc

3 Is a Ph.D. in Law, Associate Professor of the Department of Criminal Procedure and Criminology at the University of SFS of Ukraine. She is a researcher on developments in the methodology for investigating criminal offenses against the life and health of an individual and criminal offenses in the field of economic relations. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8489-3237 - Contact: omelchuk8194@sci-univ.com

4 Is a Ph.D. in Law, Associate Professor of the Department of Financial Investigations at the University of SFS of Ukraine. She is the author of 35 research papers, including 19 conference papers. She is a researcher in investigation methods and forensics of criminal offenses in commercial and banking secrets. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0946-3568 - Contact: polunina8194@neu.com.de

5 Is a Ph.D. in Law, Associate Professor of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology at the University of SFS of Ukraine. She is the autor of approximately 60 research papers and a researcher on methods of responsibility for committing corruption offenses and comparative characteristics of domestic and international anti-corruption legislation. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3387-3698 - Contact: suprun-kovalchuk8194@edu.cn.ua


ABSTRACT.

The current state of economic crime is characterized by stable growth, the structural diversity of new types of encroachments, a high latency level, and increased damage, making the topic under consideration relevant. This article studies the interaction of different states' legal systems in regulating international cooperation against transnational economic crimes and outlines the range of public relations arising from such activities under international public law. It employs a set of general scientific and special methods in the modern science of international public law to achieve the scientific objectivity of the results. Finally, it outlines the main trends in combating transnational economic crime at the international level.

KEYWORDS: economic activity; international crimes; international relations; public law; transnational crimes

RESUMEN.

El estado actual de la delincuencia económica, caracterizada por un crecimiento estable, la diversidad estructural de nuevos tipos de usurpación, un alto nivel de latencia y un incremento en los daños, hace que el tema que se examina sea relevante. Este artículo estudia la interacción de los sistemas jurídicos de los distintos Estados en la regulación de la cooperación internacional contra los delitos económicos transnacionales y esboza el abanico de relaciones públicas que se derivan de tales actividades en el marco del Derecho internacional público. El estudio emplea un conjunto de métodos científicos generales y específicos de la ciencia moderna del Derecho internacional público para lograr la objetividad científica de los resultados. Por último, este expone las principales tendencias en la lucha contra la delincuencia económica transnacional a nivel internacional.

PALABRAS CLAVE: actividad económica; delitos internacionales; delitos transnacionales; derecho público; relaciones internacionales

Introduction

In the context of globalization, crime goes beyond one state, destabilizing individual countries and the international legal order as a whole. The steady growth of international crime deepens the importance of international legal cooperation in the fight against it. The phenomenon of international crime is not a feature of modernity. It has occurred at different times and cultures, with various political and economic roots. However, at the present stage, international crime has become a global problem requiring a response from the world community and a targeted global legal effort in the fight against crime (Pozigun, 2021).

Although there has been significant progress in various spheres of public life in the XXI century, social progress has also been manifested in destructive, criminal, and dangerous phenomena that threaten humankind's sustainable development. The wide-spreading phenomena include terrorism, separatism, seizure of sovereign states' territories, increased economic crime, legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, fraud with financial resources, and cybercrime. Ukraine is increasingly becoming an object of interest for international criminal groups, particularly concerning money laundering, illegal migration, and trafficking of human beings, weapons, dangerous materials, and drugs. Therefore, it is expedient to study the problems of international cooperation between states in combating crime, its directions, and forms.

Today, many experts have noted a tendency for economic crime to transcend the state, becoming more transnational and even globally threatening in many cases. At the same time, the essence of the very concept of "transnational crime" has changed significantly. Transnational crimes were previously understood as a crime-set of strictly international character, posing an increased danger to the world community and harming interstate relations and peaceful cooperation between states, organizations, and citizens of different countries. Today, transnational crime has taken other forms. An appropriate interpretation would be the illegal commercial activity of criminal corporations in several states' economic, financial, trading, and other spheres of public life involving prohibited goods and services. In this regard, transnational crimes are spreading persistently, mainly extending beyond national borders. Given this worldwide trend, the United Nations has defined transnational crimes as offenses committed in one or more states, where a substantial part of their preparation, planning, direction, or control takes place in another state. In other words, offenses committed in one state with significant consequences in another. Accountability for such crimes is determined mainly by the states' national criminal law.

The urgency of combating this category of crimes nationally and abroad is determined by the scale of criminal groups' activities. In other words, it is determined by the scale and degree of organization currently supranational, requiring joint efforts by the competent agencies, including law enforcement agencies around the world. At the same time, the trans-nationalization of crime marks the expansion of international cooperation in this area, that is, the involvement of organized "national" criminal elements in the activities of criminal groups in other countries.

International cooperation in the fight against crime is based on a system of principles that reflects both the common interest of the international community and the national interests of states as subjects of international law. Achieving a balance between the various actors' international law interests in the fight against crime is the key to effective cooperation and the peaceful coexistence of members of the international community. In the system of modern international relations, the basic principles of international law are fundamental and universally binding. They apply to all areas of international relations, including relations arising in international cooperation in the fight against crime.

The scale and global consequences of international offenses require establishing relations between states and international organizations to combat such negative manifestations. Accordingly, throughout the history of cooperation by international law subjects in combating crime, a fairly large array of international law, principles, and mechanisms for the prevention, counteraction, cessation, and investigation of international offenses has accumulated.

Establishing cooperation in combating international offenses began with the emergence of relations between the top developed countries, concluding in the first bilateral agreements on the extradition of criminals. In the future, the development of international relations in the fight against crime will occur within the context of developing international law. Each historical period has posed new challenges to the international community and required a joint effort to solve economic, political, and social issues and, in particular, to combat international offenses.

Scholars such as Tatsienko (2018a; b), Polianska (2018), Pidhorodynska (2015), Poplavsky (2019), and Woodwood and Zharovskaya (2020) have focused their scientific works on international cooperation between states against transnational economic crimes. However, this article studies the interaction of different states' legal systems concerning the regulation of international cooperation to combat transnational economic crimes, outlining the range of public relations arising from such activities that fall under international public law.

Materials and methods

The research methods were chosen considering the study's goals and objectives, object, and subject. To achieve the results' scientific objectivity, the authors resorted to general scientific and specific methods used in the modern science of international public law.

The historical-legal method was used to study the emergence of international legal cooperation in the fight against crime. It allowed the authors to identify the main stages of its development and examine international legal cooperation in the fight against crime in response to global challenges and the genesis of international criminal law. The formal legal method was used to analyze the international treaties, international legal customs, general principles of law, acts of international organizations, decisions of international judicial bodies, and other sources of international criminal and public law. Similarly, the dialectical method was used to determine the directions and forms of international criminal law and international legal cooperation in the fight against transnational crime and establish their subject composition.

The comparative legal method enabled determining the legal characteristics of international criminal law's sources as the central manifestation of international legal cooperation in the fight against transnational economic crimes. The authors used the theoretical modeling method to substantiate the existence of customary international law, general principles of law, and court decisions in the legal component of said cooperation, recognized by most countries' international treaties and decisions. The comprehensive analysis method allowed determining the actual content, main trends, and current state of international legal cooperation in the fight against crime. This method allowed the authors to identify legal, political, and economic factors that influence its implementation in the context of globalization and the features of international law implementation on a national scale, such as the implementation of international agreements on combating crime in Ukraine.

Moreover, the authors examined the approaches of international legal science to international cooperation and international legal cooperation, generalizing the scientific positions on international crime, transnational crime, and their features and proposing their definitions and the definition of international legal cooperation in the fight against crime. Furthermore, formal and logical methods (induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, proof and refutation, generalization, among others) were used to identify the main shortcomings of the theory and current legal regulation of international cooperation in combating transnational economic crime in the context of globalization and national implementation of international law.

The classification criteria applied to the types of international agreements regulating international cooperation in the fight against crime included the number of participants, scope of cooperation, subject of regulation, time, territorial distribution, availability of control mechanism, ties, and subject composition. This classification helped delimit its directions, forms, and principles of international criminal law. The legal nature of the principles of international legal cooperation in the fight against crime was revealed based on the axiological approach. Because the international legal cooperation discussed in the article represents a complex structured system of interconnected elements, the system-structural method played a crucial role in developing this scientific paper. Furthermore, the method allowed defining this legal category as a legal activity and identifying other branches and institutions of public international law to combat crime.

Results

The fight against crime is one of the priority areas of international cooperation. Its growth and internationalization have turned this struggle into one of the leading social problems, and its solution requires the cooperation of states. The principal modern areas of cooperation between states in the fight against crime are the following:

  • The joint identification of the range of generally dangerous acts that require joint efforts to stop them;

  • A mutual exchange of information on committed crimes and criminals;

  • Assistance in searching for criminals in the state's territory and their extradition to the interested international law subjects;

  • The joint study of crime and methods for combating it;

  • The execution of specific instructions on criminal procedure issues;

  • The creation of international agreements on combating certain types of international criminal acts; and

  • The states' participation in international organizations specializing in the fight against crime.

This cooperation involves standardizing the qualification of international crimes and providing mutual legal assistance in criminal cases, including extradition. It also involves coordinating efforts and measures to prevent and stop crimes, combating specific categories of the most dangerous crimes, performing joint investigation tactical tasks (searching for hiding criminals, stolen items, and others), and combating transnational crimes in particular spheres of activity (transport, foreign trade), and ensuring punishment (Guliyeva et al., 2018). The authors highlight the following objectives of international cooperation in the fight against crime:

  • Cooperation at the interstate level;

  • Creation of international coordinating bodies;

  • Cooperation at the level of individual agencies combating international and transnational crime; and

  • Interaction between law enforcement agencies of neighboring regions of two or more countries.

Thus, international cooperation in the fight against crime requires the comprehensive coordination of actions of sovereign states and international organizations to develop and coordinate measures to prevent and detect particular types of crimes and identify, detain, and bring offenders to justice. It also provides for defining goals and objectives to minimize transnational and domestic illegal acts. Based on the above, and according to Shkurko (2019), the forms of said cooperation are as follows:

  • Coordination of actions to combat crime (exchange of information);

  • Signing agreements on combating international crimes and crimes of an international nature;

  • Legal assistance in criminal cases and conducting operational and investigative measures;

  • Conducting investigative actions and crime prevention;

  • Joint measures to stop criminal acts and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The basis for the states' international cooperation in this area implies a system of specific criteria, standards, and international principles that define the organization's essence and the states' and international organizations' activities in the fight against international crime. International cooperation against crime is a complex system of relations that includes coordinated policies, legislation, law enforcement, organizational and administrative, informational, and research activities of states represented by state bodies and officials. It also involves the activities of international organizations on crime prevention and handling of offenders. Such cooperation aims to improve international law in this area and achieve the coherence of states' actions -represented by their law enforcement agencies- in investigating criminal offenses. Implementing international cooperation in the fight against crime requires specific areas and forms. However, an analysis of legislation and scientific works reveals the lack of a unified and harmonized approach to their understanding (Dei et al., 2020a).

International legal norms in the specified field include multilateral conventions on combating international crimes, agreements on legal assistance in criminal cases, and agreements governing the activities of relevant international organizations. Some examples are the International Convention of December 14, 1973, on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents (United Nations General Assembly, 1973), the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure, and Confiscation of Proceeds of Crime - Strasbourg, November 8, 1990 (United Nations General Assembly, 1990).

Cooperation between states in the fight against crime is carried out based on multilateral (within international organizations) and bilateral principles. Therefore, the UN's General Assembly and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) sessions address various issues in the fight against crime. The UN Congress on Crime Prevention is convened once every five years, the UN Committee on Crime Prevention and Control meets once every two years, and the UN's Office for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice is permanently operational. Bilateral agreements establish more specific forms of cooperation in the fight against certain types of crime.

Setting aside the doctrinal issues of transnational organized crime, one can easily note that it differs from the usual organized criminal activity with only one feature -the crime is committed both inside and outside national borders. In this regard, the following was stated in the Eighth UN Congress in Havana:

Organized crime poses a direct threat to national and international security and stability and is a frontal attack on political and economic authorities, as well as a threat to the state itself. It disrupts the proper functioning of social and economic institutions and compromises them, leading to a loss of confidence in democratic processes. It undermines the development process and nullifies the progress achieved. It sacrifices the populations of entire countries and exploits human weakness while making a profit. It encompasses, envelops and even enslaves entire sections of society in various interconnected criminal enterprises. (United Nations, 1991; p. 7).

With the emergence and growth of transnational and organized forms of criminal crime, terrorism, and international terrorism, public and national security are at risk. Crime in the world has quadrupled in the last 30 years. According to the United Nations, since the late '90s, crime has increased an average of 5% per year worldwide, while population growth has been 1%. Accordingly, national and international methods and means of crime control, suppression, and the fight against it have begun to improve. Therefore, the urgent task of criminal law science is the development of scientifically sound recommendations for improving criminal law measures to combat crime driven by the needs of society and the growing threat of international crime (Lloyd et al., 2012).

According to Tatsienko (2018b), any state, even an economically developed one, cannot effectively combat transnational crime alone; this requires broad international cooperation. The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (2000) stated the following in this regard during the Millennium Summit:

In 1945, the founders of the United Nations established an open system of international cooperation. The system worked and made globalization possible. As a result, everyone exists in the global world. Responding to these shifts is the central challenge facing world leaders. In this new world, groups and individuals are increasingly interacting directly across borders without state involvement. This poses a certain threat. Crime, drugs, terrorism, pollution, disease, weapons, refugees, and migrants are all moving in both directions at a faster pace and on a larger scale than in the past. People feel the threat posed by events unfolding far away from them. They react more sharply to injustice and cruelty in some countries and expect states to take some action in this regard. (p. 2)

On the other hand, new technology is also being developed for mutual understanding and joint action. To obtain the best of globalization and avoid the worst, we must learn to lead better nationally and lead together internationally (Annan, 2000). Thus, international organizations, especially the United Nations, have an important role in consolidating and coordinating countries' efforts to combat transnational crime at the national and international levels. Within the framework of this authoritative universal intergovernmental organization, special bodies have been set up to appoint countries to increase the effectiveness of cooperation in the fight against crime and, to a greater extent, in the field of lawmaking. The Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century, adopted at the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (April 10th to17th, 2000), points to the need for closer coordination and cooperation between states (United Nations General Assembly, 2000). This cooperation should provide for solving the global crime problem, strengthening the internal systems of criminal justice, and national capacity in the field of international cooperation (Zavidnyak, 2021).

The increased social danger is the fundamental feature characterizing transnational crimes. This social (material) feature of the crime primarily determines its object, which is the presence of harmed public interests. First of all, transnational crimes are crimes, the commission or threat of which concern several states (the whole community). Secondly, their signs or the countermeasures against them should be enshrined or required in international agreements. Transnational crime also has a territorial feature, which is provided for in international agreements in which states define the scope of cooperation in the fight against crime. According to Article 3, paragraph 2 of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, a crime is transnational if it is committed in more than one state; committed in one state, but a substantial part of its preparation, planning, management, or control takes place in another state; committed in one state, but with the participation of an organized criminal group that carries out criminal activity in more than one state; or committed in one state, but its significant consequences occur in another (Wright, 2011).

Responsibility for these crimes is determined mainly by the states' national criminal law. However, the urgency to combat them, both nationally and abroad, is determined by the scale of activity of criminal groups and the supranational scale and degree of organization that requires the joint efforts of competent agencies and law enforcement agencies worldwide, cooperating in the fight against crime (Gerasymenko, 2021). Both the transnationalization of crime and its current trends and factors drive the expansion of international cooperation in this area. Moreover, the differentiation of the latter is necessary to clarify the prospects of such cooperation and improve its legal regulation (Nurullaev, 2020).

Transnational economic crime is an example of how criminals worldwide come together to make a profit. Transnational crime includes the most severe types of crime, such as human trafficking, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, counterfeiting, corruption, cyber-terrorism, money laundering, and theft and removal of works of art. Recently, modern transnational crimes have become more frequent, including cyberterrorism, kidnapping, and other crimes in cyberspace (Cherniavskyi et al., 2019). The number of methods employed to combat transnational crime compellingly proves that criminals involved in this area are not limited to one type of crime; they specialize in many at once. Thus, money from cybercrime, counterfeiting, and trafficking in stolen art is used to finance other terrorist activities, like human trafficking. Unfortunately, academic research today lags behind reality; therefore, it has not definitively explained the concept of transnational economic crime. Moreover, there is no clear definition of the boundaries and directions of transnational economic crime, significantly complicating the scientific analysis of the phenomenon under consideration. Therefore, it is impossible to develop a clear and transparent doctrine to combat transnational economic crime. Thus, clear and consistent actions must be developed to combat this phenomenon (Polyanska, 2016).

For a long time, transnational economic crime failed to attract enough attention from the political or scientific spheres. Seemingly, the interest became apparent only in the early 1970s, when outbreaks of international crime became widely known thanks to the media. However, transnational economic crime has now threatened individual states, their economies, and populations, which according to the authors, is the true reason for the interest in the problem. Experts explain that the problematic essence of this phenomenon is increased by the geographical distance in relation to the commission of crimes and the frequency of criminals' operations that go beyond regional and national borders. The preconditions for this phenomenon are believed to be the world community's tendency towards the globalization of modern socio-economic development. This tendency creates a level of interdependence between individual national economies and a qualitatively new phenomenon -the global economy (Reznik et al., 2020). The process of globalization affects all areas of economic relations, changing their quantitative and qualitative parameters. Therefore, economic globalization is also qualitatively changing the nature of crime, which is increasingly associated with violations of the laws of more than one country (Dei et al., 2021).

Transnational organized economic crime has not been overcome in the 21st century; it has even taken on a new dimension -new types of transnational economic crime. In fact, some states have begun to use the latest experience of transnational crimes to act against other countries, using crimes such as cyberterrorism. The intensification of the fight against transnational crime in the last decade is bearing very modest fruit. To make it more effective, the world states must jointly develop legislative, organizational, social, and moral-ethical measures, persistently implementing them using, among other things, coercive measures of influence. However, despite a recent trend towards the convergence of legal systems that reflect integration processes in the economy, significant differences between legal systems (including the fight against economic crime) persist. Therefore, the creation of international documents on combating international economic crime is a challenging process (Poplavsky, 2019).

The UN Convention against Transnational Economic Crime of November 15, 2000, also provides an indicative list of crimes that fall under the definition of transnational economic crime. These include participation in an organized criminal group (Article 5), money laundering (Article 6), corruption (Article 8), and obstruction of justice (Article 23). However, the Convention neither explains the term transnational economic crime nor crimes included in this concept. This oversight greatly complicates the work of the relevant authorities investigating transnational economic crimes. Furthermore, the Convention also fails to consider the following factors when describing specific measures to combat transnational economic crime: the number of transnational economic crimes that are currently a major problem, the problems considered transnational economic crimes (e.g., smuggling), and new transnational crimes related exclusively to cyberspace, including cyberterrorism (Tatsienko, 2018a).

Transnational economic crime can be defined as criminal activity in the legal field and illegal economic activities in the fields of production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of material goods and services. The previous includes illegal activities under the guise of legal activities (Pidhorodynska, 2015) carried out in two or more states. These criminal activities require proper planning and preparation and a developed structure. They are driven by self-centered motives, profit, and a specific purpose -the commission of crimes, especially serious crimes. The perpetrators of these crimes are aware of their danger and illegality and consciously seek their consequences (Pidhorodynska, 2015).

With the previous in mind, the authors conclude that the fight against transnational economic crime can be achieved by exposing the illegal economic activities and legal entities that cloak them, obstructing the transport of relevant products across the borders of different states and blocking the money-transfer channels for such economic activities. The best results can be obtained if all these measures are carried out simultaneously; however, this involves complex coordination efforts between all law enforcement agencies and departments within a single country and between the different states. Currently, the significant difference in the criminal procedure legislation among states creates criminal procedure issues at the preliminary investigation and trial stages (Dei et al., 2020b).

The mutual recognition of results of forensic examinations as judicial evidence would be an important means to increase law enforcement agencies' effectiveness in joint investigations. Investigative actions in other countries and the development of common international requirements for evidence would also have a positive effect. The authors also believe that creating international tribunals on organized crime at the UN or other intergovernmental organizations is necessary to neutralize the criminal structures and prosecute criminal cases of crimes committed simultaneously in several states. Noting the serious and growing threat of international organized crime to the EU's very existence, it has adopted several legal acts to combat corruption in the private sector, money laundering, illegal insider dealing, fraud, and other related crimes (Polianska, 2018).

However, even within the EU, there is no single strategy to combat transnational economic crime; thus, no effective system exists to combat such crimes. The purpose of transnational crimes in the economic sphere is profit; this is inherent in all types of transnational crime (including those not regarded as economic). It is relevant in addressing transnational economic crime. The overlapping of profits can lead to the reduction and even cessation of criminal acts, as criminal acts become unprofitable. This effect should be considered when exploring the fight against transnational economic crime. The Internet, including its untraceable parts (the so-called Darknet), and many state-of-the-art communications, such as Viber or Telegram, have greatly increased the ability to establish private contacts between citizens of different countries and even different continents. Thus, transnational organized crime groups have more opportunities for trafficking.

Discussion

Ukraine is an active participant in international cooperation to promote peace, human rights, freedoms, and combating crime. Under its international legal obligations in combating crime, Ukraine implements its provisions into national legislation and cooperates with other states in this area. However, the effectiveness of implementing these commitments depends on the state of national legislation governing the State-authorized bodies' international cooperation, their interaction mechanisms, and real actions in international cooperation with states and other subjects of international law. International cooperation in the fight against crime is also influenced by the International Criminal Court and the development of cooperation within international organizations involved in crime-fighting activities, improving domestic criminal procedure and criminal activity investigation legislation, and borrowing best practices in international cooperation. The provisions of Ukraine's current legislation, in particular, and others under the rules of law, have been combined into a domestic legal institution of international cooperation in criminal proceedings, given Ukraine's participation in international cooperation at the universal and regional levels (Woodwood & Zharovskaya, 2020).

The growing level of crimes in this category is one of the factors driving the increased importance of international cooperation in the fight against economic crime and the related investigation of criminal proceedings. According to scientists from different countries, the highest growth rates in this category occur in economic crimes, with up to 10-15% per year. This situation is associated with the proliferation of new means to com mit economic crimes, including the use of existing and modified market relations and the active development of information (computer) technology. The outlined tendencies are typical for Ukraine as well. The transition from a rigid centralized government model to free-market relations has significantly changed the Ukrainian society's economic, social, and legal system. The rapid development of foreign economic relations, the domestic currency market, and the recognition of the primacy of international law, on the one hand, contributes to the fuller integration of the State into the world economic, financial, and legal spheres. On the other, it creates a number of negative phenomena and trends; the most dangerous is the intensification of criminalization of society and the economy in particular. This trend is due to a set of economic, social, and other factors whose elimination is beyond society's power as a whole at the present stage, as they occur in all spheres of public life and are associated with social contradictions that remain unresolved (Stelmakhov & Bondarchuk, 2018).

In addition, many powerful criminogenic factors in our country catalyze the global trend of quantitative and qualitative changes in economic crime. For example, the mass negative socio-psychological and moral condition and the decline of spiritual values have drawn a large part of the population into illegal relations. Moreover, Over the last five years, there has been a general decline in living standards, unemployment is on the rise, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, and the middle class is dwindling, all stabilizers of the criminogenic situation.

Another trend determining the internationalization of economic crime is the growing number of organized criminal groups. According to the World Economic Forum (2019) in Davos, Ukraine was ranked 113th out of 137 countries with the highest level of organized crime in 2018-2019. Law enforcement agencies uncovered 230 organized criminal groups in 2019, reaching 308 in 2020. Despite significant human and natural resources, Ukraine's economic indicators are fairly low; therefore, the active growth of organized crime, and other factors, have become a threat to the State's national security. As organized crime transcends national borders, transnational criminal organizations are increasingly comparable to transnational corporations. As we can see, the current state of economic crime is characterized by stable growth dynamics, the structural diversity of new types of encroachments, and a high level of latency that increase the damaging consequences (Yaroshevskaya & Stetsenko, 2021).

Most economic crimes occur in the financial and credit system, the fuel and energy sector, the consumer market, and the foreign economic sphere. Organized criminal activity for profit is often not limited to any one type of illegal activity. An example of its complex nature is the criminal car business. These activities include the theft of vehicles, attacks on passengers to seize vehicles, obtaining illegal insurance compensation for allegedly stolen cars (fraud), car smuggling, customs duties evasion for imported vehicles for the purposes of stealing, making vehicles, and the sale of stolen vehicles, among others.

New categories of economic crimes have emerged in the course of radical changes in the State's economy. Counteracting these activities is hindered by significant law enforcement and organizational difficulties.

Tax-related crimes, for example, have become widespread in recent years; according to experts, the State annually receives only half of the budgeted tax revenues. The most criminogenic areas include credit banking and tax systems. Typical tax crimes include the non-crediting of currency to authorized bank accounts, the transfer of foreign exchange earnings abroad in violation of the established procedure and without the permission of the National Bank of Ukraine, the use of transfer pricing, the illegal export of capital under fictitious agreements, and the concealment of income received in Ukraine by foreign legal entities and individuals. As investigative efforts show, one of the main obstacles to the normal investigation of the crimes outlined above is the lack of an effective Ukrainian legal framework in the field of international cooperation.

The analysis of current trends in economic crime reveals that international cooperation in criminal procedure is a complex systemic phenomenon today. Thus, Ukraine's current legislation proceedings on transnational economic crimes cannot be ensured without external cooperation, including collecting evidence abroad, criminal prosecution, human and civil rights and freedoms protection in criminal proceedings, damages compensation, and possible property confiscation. These criminal procedural functions are implemented to some extent by pre-trial investigation bodies, the prosecutor's office, and the court during pre-trial investigation and court criminal proceedings (Legan, 2021).

Thus, the following areas of combating transnational crime are relevant to Ukraine. They involve a global call to update the United Nations Convention against Transnational Economic Crime significantly and include crimes presently recognized by the international community as transnational economic crimes, mainly smuggling and cyberterror-ism. Ideally, the goal should be to create an adequate international legal act covering all areas of combating transnational economic crime. A similar single legal act should also be adopted at the EU and other intergovernmental association levels. In addition, a single system of evidence collection for transnational criminal groups should be introduced. An intergovernmental tribunal should be established to hear criminal proceedings when the activities of a transnational criminal group are exposed in several countries. It should also be legislated at the international level. These regulations should define transnational economic crime to develop a common legal doctrine for all countries to combat this threatening phenomenon.

Countering cyberattacks and cyberterrorism

Unfortunately, Ukraine is nearly defenseless in this direction. This condition must be corrected as soon as possible. In the event of an escalation of hostilities, a conventional enemy can paralyze the country's banking system in a matter of hours, leaving citizens without electricity and communications, among others. Therefore, much more attention should be paid to areas including electronic surveillance systems and banking control against money laundering. Considering that the main purpose of transnational economic crimes is profit, the creation of a situation in which the costs of committing an economic crime exceed the possible profit should be the main goal of combating transnational economic crime. Countering transnational economic crime can be achieved in different ways; among them, exposing illegal economic activities and legal entities that conceal these activities, preventing the transport of relevant products across different states' borders, and blocking these economic activities' money transfer channels. All these methods involve both coordinating different states' departments and agencies' activities and interstate cooperation at different levels.

Conclusions

Globalization positively changes the economy and politics, making the international community more connected and interdependent with all its participants. Globalization made it possible to build strong international legal cooperation in the fight against crime. However, among the positive consequences, there are negative ones -new types, forms, and methods of transnational crime. They require a continuous update of international cooperation's legal and institutional mechanisms to combat crime. This study has shown that the development of international legal cooperation in the fight against crime requires programming to at least assess further crime development and ensure the inevitability of punishment.

Transnational economic crimes transcend a state's borders; thus, they can destroy the world economy, lead to poverty, and provoke other types of crime in countries. This study proved that the world has yet to develop effective strategies to combat this phenomenon. The government of one state alone is incapable of coping with crimes by its forces, no matter its means and resources. It must resort to some form of international cooperation to fight against transnational economic crimes. In light of the above, the fight against economic crime is one of the priority areas of international cooperation. Further research should aim to improve the international legal regulation for combating transnational economic crime.

Considering the circumstances that determine the prospects for international cooperation in the investigation of transnational economic crimes indicates that, on the one hand, its development is determined by quantitative and qualitative changes in economic crime. On the other, it is defined by the requirements of international treaties and the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine. Global trends in economic crime and its genesis in Ukraine, moving towards these trends, drive the expansion of the domestic criminal process of international cooperation with the competent authorities of foreign countries.

In conclusion, the following means stand out in the fight against transnational economic crime. These are exposing illegal economic activities and legal entities that conceal these activities, preventing the transport of relevant products across the different states' borders, and blocking these economic activities' channels of money transfer. It is clear that the best results can be obtained if all these measures are carried out simultaneously; however, this involves complex coordination between all law enforcement agencies and departments within one country and between the relevant services of different states.

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How to cite in APA: Zavydniak, V.I., Zavydniak, I.O., Omelchuk, L.V., Polunina, L.V. & Suprun-Kovalchuk, T.M. (2022). States' main directions and forms of international cooperation in the fight against transnational economic crimes. Revista Científica General José María Córdova, 20 (38), 323-339. https://dx.doi.org/10.21830/19006586.904

Disclaimer The authors declare no potential conflict of interest related to the article.

Funding The authors do not report sources of funding for this article.

Received: November 30, 2021; Accepted: February 12, 2022; Published: April 01, 2022

*CONTACT: Volodymyr I. Zavydniak zavydniak8194@edu-knu.com

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