The Partnerships for Anticorruption Global Forum 2025 takes place on 8 and 9 April 2025 in Washington, D.C. It focuses on the importance of partnerships in collectively advancing the fight against corruption.

The Basel Institute is represented in two panel discussions on Day 2 of the Forum and in a World Café:

1. Accelerating International Cooperation and Asset Recovery: Country Experiences and Lessons Learned

9 April 2025 | 9:45 – 11:00 | MC4-800

This session will highlight ways to improve and accelerate international cooperation and asset recovery. Engaging in informal international cooperation prior to submitting mutual legal assistance requests and using innovative tools can overcome challenges and delays. In turn, effective asset recovery can significantly contribute to the financial resources available for development projects, particularly in countries that have been adversely affected by corruption and illicit financial flows and can create a more equitable and prosperous global economy.

The session will also focus on country experiences in tracing, confiscating and negotiating the return of proceeds of corruption. It will highlight lessons learned over the past two years from the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) Action Series, a practitioner-focused process aimed at facilitating cooperation between requested and requesting countries, supported by the StAR Initiative, IACCC and ICAR. 

Speakers:

• Oscar Solórzano, Attorney, Head of Latin America ICAR, Basel Institute on Governance
• Michael Petkov, Deputy Head, International Anticorruption Coordination Centre
• Alina Zhovnytska, Prosecutor at Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, Ukraine
• Gilbert Phiri, Director of Public Prosecutions, Zambia

Moderator: Yara Esquivel, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, The World Bank Group

2. Private Sector Initiatives for Clean Business Environment (ICO)

9 April 2025 | 16:00 – 17:00 | MC C1-100

This session will explore various initiatives aimed at promoting transparency, ethical conduct and business integrity within the private sector. It will highlight key frameworks, tools and programmes developed by national and international institutions to support business integrity. The discussion will also focus on how companies can leverage these resources to design and implement robust compliance programmes tailored to their organisational needs.

Panelists will address:

1. the common challenges businesses face in adopting clean and ethical practices, along with practical solutions to overcome these hurdles;
2. emerging trends and issues that organisations should consider staying ahead in promoting business integrity; and
3. the role of Collective Action in advancing business integrity principles.

Speakers:

• Gabriela Ocampo, Manager, Governance and Anticorruption, United Nations Global Compact
• Vanessa Hans, Head, Private Sector, Basel Institute on Governance, Switzerland
• Soji Apampa, Co-Founder/CEO, The Convention on Business Integrity, Nigeria
• Phrommet Bencharongkit, Project Director, Thai Private Sector Collective Action Against Corruption, Thailand 

Moderator: Prince Nwankwo, Counsel, Integrity Compliance Specialist, Integrity Vice Presidency, The World Bank Group

3. World Café: Non-Conviction Based Confiscation in the Context of Asset Recovery

The International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) is a specialised centre of the Basel Institute on Governance that collaborates with partner countries to strengthen their capacities in the recovery of illicit assets, practical mentoring on investigation methods, confiscation strategies and international cooperation.

This World Café will focus on disseminating the work of ICAR, in particular, the prosecution of international corruption through the suppression of its profits: asset recovery. More specifically, the session will focus on non-conviction-based confiscation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, how these tools have allowed to win some prominent cases, challenges and opportunities along the way.

Speaker:

• Oscar Solórzano, Attorney, Head of Latin America ICAR, Basel Institute on Governance