A free webinar for all wishing to sharpen their understanding of “illicit” in illicit financial flows

Grand corruption cases often involve politically exposed persons and powerful business actors who exploit global financial systems to move and conceal illicit funds. Detecting and disrupting these complex cross-border schemes – whether as an investigator, journalist or researcher – requires a deep understanding of how illicit financial flows operate.

This free webinar shines a light on two key mechanisms that fuel grand corruption: money dirtying and money laundering. While money laundering is widely known, its mechanisms are becoming ever more complex in today’s globalised world. Less studied but equally critical is money dirtying, which describes how legally obtained funds are covertly transformed into bribes or other illicit resources.

Led by the Basel Institute on Governance in collaboration with Transcrime as part of the EU-funded FALCON project, the session will draw on both academic research and real-world investigations. Participants will learn from:

• A case study on the illicit links between the Odebrecht construction giant and former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, arising from the Lava Jato or “Car Wash” scandal but with lessons that remain relevant today.
• An empirical study analysing patterns of money dirtying and money laundering in grand corruption schemes.

The speakers will also take questions from the audience and share practical strategies to strengthen investigations into corruption-linked financial flows.

Who should attend

• Primary audience: Financial investigators and analysts, anti-money laundering experts and law enforcement officials working on corruption and related financial crimes.
• Secondary audience: Journalists, researchers and civil society practitioners interested in financial integrity and anti-corruption.

Key speakers

• Noémi Jäger, Associate, Prevention, Research and Innovation, Basel Institute on Governance (moderator) 
• Dr Jacopo Costa, Senior Specialist, Prevention, Research and Innovation at the Basel Institute on Governance 
• Giorgia Cascone, Researcher at Transcrime 

Details and registration

• Date: Tuesday 2 December 2025 
• Time: 14.00–15.30 

Acknowledgement and disclaimer

This webinar is part of the FALCON (Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) project. This project is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Program Grant Agreement ID 101121281. The Basel Institute on Governance, as an associated partner without the right to receive funds directly from the European Research Executive Agency, has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The contents of this webinar are the sole responsibility of the organisers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the European Research Executive Agency or SERI.