Cameroon

African expertise takes centre stage at crypto and asset recovery workshop

Around 40 public-sector practitioners gathered in Luxembourg on 17 September 2026 for the Africa Crypto & Asset Recovery Workshop. The event put African experience, innovation and talent at the heart of discussions on cryptoasset investigations and asset recovery. Held as a side event to the 10th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets, the workshop brought together specialists from financial intelligence units, law enforcement agencies, prosecution authorities, regulators and asset recovery bodies. Participants represented more than 15 African countries. The Basel Institute on Governance co-organised the workshop with the SecFin Africa. It was hosted by Luxembourg’s Bureau de gestion des avoirs. Learning from African experience The workshop was designed around peer learning. Practitioners from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa presented real cases to their regional peers. They spoke openly about the obstacles they had encountered and the practical approaches they had developed to overcome them. The workshop took place under the Chatham House rule. Participation was restricted to public-sector officials to provide a safe space for candid discussion, questions and learning. This practitioner-led approach is central to the Africa Crypto & Asset Recovery Network. The Network recognises that valuable expertise and creative solutions already exist across the continent. Its role is to help practitioners share this knowledge, learn from one another and build trusted relationships across institutions and borders. As H.E. Ambassador Mary Chirwa, Ambassador of Zambia to the Benelux countries, said in her closing remarks at the main conference: I can speak for Africa: it may not have the same resources as other regions, but it has large, young and technologically astute populations – quick to embrace new technologies, question established approaches and find imaginative solutions. Practical tools and international cooperation The workshop also introduced practical tools that can support investigations and asset recovery. - Alexandru Donciu, Virtual Assets Specialist at the Basel Institute, demonstrated free and open-source tools for conducting on-chain investigations. - A representative of the French Gendarmerie and France’s Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets AGRASC presented ASAC. The application guides magistrates and investigators through procedures for tracing, seizing and confiscating criminal assets. - A Europol representative illuminated the work and approach of the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre and its collaborations with global law enforcement partners. The contributions from international partners highlighted the importance of connecting strong regional networks across continents. Cryptoassets move globally and effective investigations depend on cooperation that does the same. Connections that last beyond Luxembourg Many of the participants also attended the main Global Conference on 15–16 September. This gave the large African delegation opportunities to exchange experience with hundreds of peers from law enforcement, policymaking, research and the private sector. These face-to-face connections matter. They build the trust that makes it easier to pick up the phone when an urgent cross-border case arises. Our sincere thanks go to SecFin Africa and to the workshop’s co-moderators, Philippe Pacaud, Operational Coordinator at SecFin Africa, and Simon Marsh, Head of Africa at the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery. SecFin Africa is funded by the European Union, France and Germany. We also gratefully acknowledge the organisations supporting the Africa Crypto & Asset Recovery Network: Kodex, Asset Reality, Tradias, VerifyVASP, Coinbase, TRM Labs, CAT Labs and iSanctuary. Their support helps make this public-sector community and its activities possible while preserving a trusted and product-free space for practitioner exchange. The enthusiasm in Luxembourg also raised an exciting possibility: a dedicated Africa Crypto & Asset Recovery Conference in 2027. Watch this space.

New international project targets corruption risks in carbon markets

Carbon markets are meant to help finance forest protection and climate action. Yet too often they are undermined by weak governance, corruption risks and a lack of transparency. Concerns over the credibility of some carbon credits erode trust in a system designed to channel climate finance and support forest-dependent communities. A new international project aims to address these challenges head-on by strengthening governance and anti-corruption safeguards across forest carbon markets. The Basel Institute on Governance is pleased to join this effort as a project partner, contributing its expertise through the Green Corruption programme. A collaborative effort for better carbon market governance The project, Towards Inclusive Governance for Forest Carbon Markets, is led by Transparency International and funded by the UK Government through the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office FCDO Forest Governance, Markets and Climate programme. Running until March 2028, the initiative brings together a consortium including the Basel Institute on Governance, Resource Extraction Monitoring and local Transparency International chapters in focus countries. Together, the partners will work to reduce corruption risks in forest carbon markets and strengthen the integrity of carbon credit systems. The project will focus on three key countries – Indonesia, Ghana and Cameroon – supporting governments, civil society organisations, certifiers, private sector actors and forest-dependent communities to better identify and mitigate corruption risks linked to carbon credit projects. Carbon markets are inherently transnational: credits may be generated in one country, verified in another and purchased in a third. This complexity creates opportunities for corruption networks to exploit regulatory gaps, conflicts of interest and weak oversight mechanisms. The project aims to close those gaps by combining evidence generation, national advocacy and international engagement. Bringing anti-corruption expertise to forest carbon markets The Basel Institute will play a central role through our Green Corruption programme, which focuses on tackling corruption linked to environmental crimes and natural resource governance. Our team is leading the project’s first major output: consolidating available data, gathering evidence to identify typologies of corruption risks in forest carbon markets and developing global, gender-sensitive guidelines to help prevent them. Working closely with partners and national stakeholders, we are leading the organisation of corruption risk identification workshops in Indonesia and Ghana. These workshops will bring together key actors across the carbon market ecosystem to map corruption vulnerabilities in carbon markets systems and identify practical actions to mitigate these risks. The findings will feed into country-specific risk assessments. In parallel, our team is conducting an assessment of global carbon markets governance dynamics and vulnerabilities to corruption. Ultimately national and international assessments will inform the development of global guidelines, which will be designed to strengthen anti-corruption safeguards across carbon markets. These global guidelines will then support advocacy and reform efforts led by Transparency International and its national chapters. We will also contribute to global advocacy efforts by advising international certification bodies and other actors on improving safeguards and governance standards in carbon markets. Dr Amanda Cabrejo le Roux, Deputy Director of the Basel Institute’s Green Corruption programme, said: Carbon markets hold real promise for forests, communities, and the climate — but promise alone isn't protection. Like any system that moves money at scale, they are vulnerable to those who would bend the rules for personal gain. The first step is a rigorous analysis of corruption risks: mapping scenarios and building clear typologies, through sector-wide workshops and consultations with all key stakeholders. From there, those same actors can work together to develop practical mitigation measures — building a system that is genuinely resilient. That is exactly what this project sets out to do. Part of a wider “green” governance agenda The project aligns with the Basel Institute’s Green Corruption strategy, which increasingly focuses on corruption and governance challenges linked to climate change and the global energy transition. Forest carbon markets involve complex financial flows, transnational actors and high-stakes environmental outcomes, making strong governance and anti-corruption safeguards essential. With years of experience analysing corruption risks in environmental and natural resource sectors and beyond, the Basel Institute is well placed to contribute to this work. By contributing our expertise to the project, we aim to help ensure that carbon markets deliver on their promise: protecting forests, supporting communities and advancing credible climate action. Learn more ::: links - Project overview - View the full project overview on the Transparency International website. - Countering Environmental Corruption Practitioners Forum - Interested in corruption and governance in the environmental space? Join the Countering Environmental Corruption Practitioners Forum, a global community of practitioners jointly led by the Basel Institute on Governance, Transparency International, WWF and TRAFFIC. :::

ICAR participates in the 13th Interpol Global Programme on Anti-Corruption, Financial Crimes and Asset Recovery in Senegal

From 14 to 18 September 2015, the International Centre for Asset Recovery ICAR of the Basel Institute participated in the 13th Interpol Global Programme on Anti-Corruption, Financial Crimes and Asset Recovery in Dakar, Senegal, coordinated by Interpol's Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes Unit in partnership with the US Department of Justice Criminal Division and the Anti-Corruption of Senegal OFNAC . The five-day workshop brought together some 34 participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. This hands-on workshop covered a variety of topics including corruption and money laundering, asset tracing and recovery, best practices to secure and present evidence, management of digital evidence in corruption and asset recovery cases, as well as international cooperation in asset confiscation. In the context of this workshop, the participants, which included senior prosecutors, investigators and other key staff members from the participating countries' respective Financial Intelligence Units and anti-corruption agencies shared their various experiences in relation to the aforementioned topics.

Training seminar in Cameroon on good governance in extractive industries

In the context of a series of capacity building workshops by the German Development Cooperation GIZ to strengthen governance in Central Africa’s extractive sector, the Basel Institute contributed to a 4-day seminar on good governance in the extractive industries in the Central African Monetary Community CEMAC , held in Douala, Cameroon, in December 2014. This workshop aimed to enhance the skills of public servants in the field of good governance and to raise awareness of corruption risks inherent to the sector. Some 40 high-ranking officials from concerned ministries of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo as well as members of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Committee for the CEMAC area attended the workshop.

Engaging the private sector in Collective Action against corruption: A practical guide for anti-corruption agencies in Africa