The Basel Institute has been a longtime partner of the B20 anti-corruption working groups, and during the German Presidency has actively supported the Responsible Business Conduct and Anti-corruption work of the B20 by contributing to the development of the final recommendations. These were officially handed over to German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel in May.
The Basel Institute on Governance and Rwanda’s Office of the Ombudsman convened an anti-corruption training workshop in Kigali, Rwanda on 29 and 30 June 2017. The first day provided bankers with an overview of international standards against money laundering and corruption for financial institutions, while the second day equipped journalists with practical skills in using open-source tools and databases for anti-corruption investigations. The workshop followed a participatory and practical approach with case studies and on-site exercises.
In the context of the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme, and building on ICAR’s previous operational engagements in Bulgaria in support of the country’s efforts to tackle corruption, ICAR is partnering with the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria (PORB) to offer technical assistance and guidance in financial investigations and asset recovery.
ICAR continues to work closely with a series of partner countries increasing their autonomy in the fight against financial crimes and money laundering as well as in recovering stolen public funds. ICAR’s current partner countries in the context of its capacity building services include Bulgaria, Romania, Tanzania and Uganda.
In May 2017, Ugandan prosecutors secured convictions for money laundering in the Equity Bank trial, the first case of its kind in the country. Six of the accused in this trial, involving the embezzlement of $1,450 million from the bank, were convicted by the Anti-Corruption Court in Kololo of embezzlement and money laundering, and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 to 12 years. The court ruled that Equity Bank was to receive $1,25 million as compensation, and vehicles, land and about $70 million as additional compensation.
The International Centre for Collective Action (ICCA) extends its activities into teaching on an institutional level. As of January 2018, ICCA experts will provide teaching modules on initiating and managing Collective Action for professionals at the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) in Laxenburg, Austria.
E-government generally refers to the use of information and communication technologies to transform relations between citizens, businesses and various branches of government, and includes for example; e-procurement, e-customs, e-tax filing and e-sourcing.
In September 2017, the Basel Institute and the Rwandan Office of the Ombudsman concluded a joint two-year project to strengthen the involvement of non-state actors in the fight against corruption in Rwanda.
Researchers from the Basel Institute recently delivered a workshop on quantitative and qualitative research methodologies for corruption research at the Protestant University of Rwanda (PUR) in Butare, Rwanda.
The Basel Institute and the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) will work together to provide expert support to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in the framework of SDC's thematic network on democratisation, decentralisation and local government (DDLG). IDS is a leading global institution for development research, teaching and learning, and impact and communications, based at the University of Sussex.