Basel Institute at #IACC2022

A delegation from the Basel Institute will attend the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Washington DC on 6–10 December 2022. We will be distributing some of our recent publications and are looking forward to meeting our friends, partners and hopefully future partners in anti-corruption. 

Please join us at the following plenary sessions and workshops, stop by our booth or contact us via info@baselgovernance.org if you would like to arrange a meeting in advance.

Tuesday 6 December

Environmental corruption: a call to action - Launch of Countering Environmental Corruption Practitioners Forum

Tuesday 6 December, 09:30–11:00 EST | Empire

The session "A call to action: building bridges across conservation and anti-corruption practice to stop environmental corruption from the ground up" will see the launch of a new Countering Environmental Crime Practitioners Forum.

WWF International and US, Transparency International, the Basel Institute on Governance and TRAFFIC are jointly launching the Practitioners Forum, which brings together global conservation and anti-corruption practitioners to counter the corruption threatening our planet. Learn more in this joint blog post by the organisations' leaders.

The event is organised by WWF International and features speakers from WWF International, WWF Nepal and Madagascar, Transparency International, TRAFFIC and Indonesia Corruption Watch.

 

Wednesday 7 December

How to ensure maximum transparency and accountability of the post-war reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine

Wednesday 7 December, 08:30–10:00 EST | Palladium F4T

Ukraine's post-war reconstruction will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. With that sum of money inevitably comes corruption risks.

This panel looks at how the Ukrainian authorities and civil society can develop and implement approaches that would ensure transparency and accountability in the post-war reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine and increase the integrity, sustainability and efficiency of the recovery process.

The panel debate organised by Transparency International Ukraine, the USAID Support to Anti- Corruption Champion Institutions program (SACCI) in Ukraine, the RISE Ukraine coalition and the Open Contracting Partnership will bring together top stakeholders from the Ukrainian government, civil society, international think tanks as well as partners of Ukraine. The participants will discuss the existing approaches and challenges, and elaborate on ways to ensure maximum efficiency, transparency and accountability of post-war reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine, building on Ukraine's and international best practices of oversight, transparency and accountability.

The Basel Institute supports the event as a member of the RISE Ukraine coalition.

Download the agenda.

 

Using follow-the-money techniques to detect environmental crimes

Wednesday 7 December, 15:30–17:00 EST | Hampton

Numerous policy bodies, including the FATF, OECD, G20 and UN General Assembly, have urged member states to incorporate financial investigations into their environmental crime arsenal. The logic is obvious: rarely do seizures of illicit goods alone reveal the entire criminal network, leaving kingpins unpunished and able to both continue deploying their illicit funds for more criminal activity and enjoy the privileges they bring. 

The reality on the ground, however, is that financial investigations remain an afterthought and the exception, not the rule. 

The panelists will share their experiences providing technical support to wildlife agencies with law enforcement functions to strengthen the use of financial investigation techniques. They will highlight how such approaches need to be fine-tuned to increase the likelihood of success.

This event is organised by the Green Corruption team at the Basel Institute on Governance. The moderator is Elizabeth Hart of the USAID Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) programme and the rapporteur is Rebecca Batts of the Basel Institute on Governance. The panel features:

• Juhani Grossmann of the Basel Institute on Governance
• Michele Kuruc of WWF Fisheries
• Ben Brock of TRAFFIC 
• Louise Shelley of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University 

Her Excellency Dr. Graziella Marok-Wachter, Minister for Infrastructure and Justice, Principality of Liechtenstein, will make opening remarks.

See full panel description.

 

Ensuring clean development in responding to emergencies

Wednesday 7 December, 15:30–17:00 EST | Ambassador

Coordinated by the World Bank, the session will explore how multilateral development banks address corruption risks, empower stakeholders and work together to strengthen integrity in development projects.

It will be chaired by the Basel Institute's Managing Director Gretta Fenner and feature the following key speakers:

• Alan Bacarese of the World Bank Group
• Laura Profeta of the Inter-American Development Bank
• Paula Santos Da Costa of the African Development Bank Group
• Duncan Smith of the European Investment Bank
• Bernd Träxler of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• John Versantvoort of the Asian Development Bank

 

The Integrity Pact: A global Collective Action standard for safeguarding strategic public investment.

Wednesday 7 December, 15:30–17:00 EST | Empire

The session presents the main features of the global Integrity Pact standard that Transparency International is developing based on 20+ years of experience implementing Integrity Pacts for clean procurement. The event will encourage debate about how to make Integrity Pacts and other multi-stakeholder Collective Action initiatives a regular practice to prevent corruption, foster good governance and drive business integrity in public contracting.

It is coordinated by Transparency International. Vanessa Hans, Head of Private Sector at the Basel Institute on Governance, will speak alongside representatives from the International Anti-Corruption Academy and the OECD.

 

Thursday 8 December

Ending dark markets, criminal networks and cross-border crimes (Plenary 5) 

Thursday 8 December, 13:30–15:00 EST | Regency Ballroom

The global demand for scarce, endangered, or forbidden goods and services, which often are acquired through trafficking, is steadily on the rise. Fuelled by corruption, the profits often are dirty and blood money. Criminal networks are the first to profit from this demand by creating dark markets and exploiting everything from human beings and endangered species to drugs and arms, from counterfeit merchandise or rare antiquities to precious natural resources.

Trafficking is a devastating business that knows no territorial boundaries. But people living in vulnerable conditions, weak states, and particularly in resource-rich yet fragile environments, are the first to suffer the harm inflicted by criminal networks, including death, while the consequences are often global. What is holding back law enforcement, how are criminal networks innovating and where are today’s most critical hotspots? What are institutions around the world doing to fight back?

This plenary session will be moderated by the Basel Institute's Managing Director Gretta Fenner. On the panel will be:

• Paul Radu, Founder and Director of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting project (OCCRP)
• Anastasiia Lapatina, National Reporter at the Kyiv Independent
• Raymond Baker, Founding President of Global Financial Integrity
• Frederik Obermaier, Investigative Journalist at Der Spiegel 
• Akere Muna, Member of the African Union High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa

 

Environmental crime, corruption and the climate crisis

Thursday 8 December, 14:30–16:00 EST | Executive

This session examines how to strengthen anti-corruption frameworks and enforcement measures to protect the environment, the climate and the rights of indigenous peoples and communities.

A particular focus will be on opportunities to strengthen the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and its implementation, paving the way for joint advocacy efforts to promote the adoption of a new UNCAC resolution at the 10th Conference of the States Parties in 2023 to address the links between environmental crime, corruption and its impacts on the climate.

The session is coordinated by the Wildlife Justice Commission and moderated by Brice Böhmer, Climate and Environment Lead at Transparency International. On the panel are:

• Edgardo Buscaglia of Columbia University
• Juhani Grossmann of the Basel Institute on Governance
• Joachim Stassart of Transparency International Brazil 
• Olivia Swaak-Goldman of the Wildlife Justice Commission

 

Friday 9 December

Tackling corruption from all angles: Fostering Collective Action against corruption through cross-sectoral approaches

Friday 9 December, 08:30–10:00 EST | Diplomat

This global workshop will explore innovative approaches to countering corruption across sectors, including in climate change, health and more. The workshop will include a moderated discussion where the audience can discuss opportunities and challenges in forging cross-sectoral partnerships in countering corruption.

The session aims to underscore both how tackling corruption across sectors is imperative to achieving sustainable development goals and how cross-sectoral partnerships are critical to galvanising Collective Action against corruption.

It is coordinated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The panel features:

• Juhani Grossman of the Basel Institute on Governance
• Claire Schouten of the International Budget Partnership
• Rebecca Turner of USAID/Global Health
• Veerawit Tianchainan of WWF and the USAID Mekong for the Future Project

 

Fighting creed, kleptocracy, oligarchs, money laundering and their enablers (Plenary 6)

Friday 9 December, 10:30–12:00 EST | Regency Ballroom

Greed drives the insatiable, and often corrupt, pursuit of wealth, money and power. The enablers are specialists that willingly engage in corrupt practices to ensure the impunity of kleptocrats and oligarchs. Accountants, bankers, real estate agents, luxury goods brokers - to name a few, are often implicated in complex schemes to obscure ill - gotten fortunes.

After years of self-sabotage, the game-changing Panama Papers and subsequent revelations, and the increasing threats to national security have prompted several countries to take real steps to curb the flow of dirty and blood money, though much more is to be done. Where have we successfully exposed and prosecuted complicit enablers? How do we ensure the adoption of international best practices in these sectors? How are countries cooperating to crack down on money laundering? How can the industries and businesses partner in developing safeguards to prevent law breaking enablers?

The plenary will be moderated by Neha Wadekar and feature:

• Peter Maurer, President of the Basel Institute on Governance
• Musa Mwenye, Chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission Board, Zambia
• Maria Pevchikh, Head of the Investigation Department, Anti-Corruption Foundation, Russia
• Daniel Eriksson, CEO of Transparency International
• Derek Mitchell, President of the National Democratic Institute
• Margery Kraus, Founder & Executive Chairman of APCO Worldwide

 

Starving the kleptocratic Kremlin to rebuild Ukraine

Friday 9 December, 15:30–17:00 EST | Palladium F4T

This session aims to generate a realistic understanding of existing options for recovering assets frozen under sanctions related to the war in Ukraine. It also seeks to identify and promote new instruments that countries could introduce for this purpose, thereby contributing to the global effort to accelerate asset recovery and push boundaries of current practice.

The session is co-organised by Transparency International Ukraine and the Basel Institute on Governance. It is moderated by the Basel Institute’s Gretta Fenner and features a panel of experts:

• Péter Csonka of the Directorate Criminal Justice, European Commission
• Anton Korynevych, Head of UA Freeze and Seize Task Force
• David Lim of the U.S. Task Force KleptoCapture
• Kateryna Ryzhenko of Transparency International Ukraine

Download the agenda and view a full description.

 

How can data support Collective Action against corruption?

Friday 9 December, 15:30–17:00 EST | Governor

This practical session will explore how data can support business-driven Collective Action in high-risk markets. It covers:

• how corruption data can drive better integrity standards for the private sector globally, using examples from the Anonymous Incident Reporting system of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN).
• how data can drive the adoption of stronger integrity standards, using examples from an award-winning Collective Action project in Nigerian ports;
• what determines success in Collective Action, with contributions from the audience; and
• how Collective Action links to the international agenda.

The session is coordinated by the MACN and features:

• Gemma Aiolfi of the Basel Institute on Governance.
• Soji Apampa of the Convention on Business Integrity
• Pascale Dubois of Georgetown Law
• Cecilia Muller Torbrand of MACN

 

See the IACC website for the full #IACC2022 agenda and workshops.