The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (GPO) mandated the Basel Institute on Governance’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) to assist with tracing and recovering assets stolen by former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych and his inner circle. The agreement was signed on Monday, 11 August 2014, in Kyiv by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Mr Vitaliy Yarema, and Basel Institute Managing Director Ms Gretta Fenner.

The Basel Institute has created a new information platform focusing on the role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in recovering stolen assets.

Initially developed in the context of the Arab Forum on Asset Recovery, the interactive guide is applicable to all CSOs interested in playing a more active role in asset recovery, through advocacy, awareness raising, investigations and in the return of assets.

See cso.assetrecovery.org.

In recognition of the Basel Institute on Governance having received the mandate from the B20 Task Force on Anti-Corruption and Transparency in June 2013 to host the B20 Collective Action Hub, working along with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the two organisations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), further reinforcing their collaboration in this endeavour. 

At the end of December 2013, the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) under the leadership of Prof. Mark Pieth formally completed its task of overseeing the FIFA reform process after more than two years of work.

During this time, the IGC, a group consisting of renowned governance experts and football stakeholders, submitted concrete recommendations for reforms relating to greater transparency, financial controls, accountability and ethical conduct.

The Basel Institute, as a founding Board member of the WEF's Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), supports the announcements on new WEF led anti-corruption programmes made in Davos this week.

See the press release.

Within the context of the “Engaged Citizenry for Responsible Governance” project, funded by the USAID, experts from the Basel Institute’s public governance division conducted two training workshops for representatives of civil society organizations (CSO) in Yerevan, Armenia, from 4 – 8 May 2015.

The International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) joined the Peruvian General Attorney Office and the Swiss Embassy in Peru for a workshop on “Seeking Effective Legal Mechanisms against Corruption and other Financial Crimes” held in Lima, Peru, on 23-24 March 2015.

From 21 to 24 April 2015, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network of South Africa (ARINSA), the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the International Center of Asset Recovery (ICAR) co-jointly conducted a four-day seminar for the Tanzanian judiciary on recovering the proceeds from wildlife and forest crime. The seminar was held on Zanzibar island and attended by some 40 Tanzanian judges.

Within the context of the recently launched three-year initiative on "Mapping and Visualising Cross-Border Crime” funded by the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Program, experts from the International Centre for Asset recovery (ICAR) conducted its first training workshop in Bucharest during 21-23 April 2015.