Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT)
The
Mutual Legal
Assistance Treaty is an agreement between the two foreign countries, for
the purpose of gathering and exchanging information in an effort to enforce
criminal laws.
This assistance may take the form of examining and identifying people,
places and things, custodial transfers, and providing assistance with the
immobilization of the instruments of criminal activity. With regards to the
latter, MLATs between the United States and Caribbean nations do not cover
U.S. tax evasion, and are therefore ineffective when applied to Caribbean
countries, which usually act as offshore "tax havens."
Assistance may be denied by either country (according to agreement details)
for political or security reasons, or if the criminal offence in question is
not equally punishable in both countries. Some treaties may encourage
assistance with legal aid for nationals in other countries.
