The article considers the most effective mechanisms for realizing the confiscation of property as a means of counteracting corruption. The confiscation institute is investigated in its civil, not criminal-legal meaning. The authors of the article paid special attention to the analysis of international legal regulation of various issues of confiscation in rem and the problems of implementing this institution in the domestic legal field. An analysis of domestic anti-corruption legislation showed that, for all its similarity with the institution, confiscation in rem, the domestic civil-legal institution of confiscation is not such. In the process of its definition, vices are laid, which nullify the effectiveness of the implementation of this institution. When investigating the civil-law institute of property confiscation, the authors used methods of analysis, synthesis, systemic and functional approaches, formal legal and comparative legal methods. On the basis of these methods, the authors come to the conclusion that Russian legislation ensuring the implementation of Art. 235 GCRF, at the moment does not contain effective tools to combat corruption. The author draws attention to the problem of corruption-relatedness of the anti-corruption legislation. In his opinion, the solution of this problem will require a serious analysis of all normative material, a detailed forecast of the application of legal norms in real social conditions.