By Frederic Wehrlé

Although there is no statutory obligation for companies to engage in anti-corruption Collective Action, there are references to it in guidance documents that have been issued by governments in relation to laws prohibiting bribery. These guidelines are used by companies when developing or reviewing their anti-corruption compliance programs, as well as when defining the scope of internal policies and procedures.

Comments from the Basel Institute on Governance Conference on Anti-Corruption Collective Action to address corporate and multi-stakeholder initiatives against bribery and extortion:

On 12 May 2014 the government of Ukraine took a step to help encourage much needed foreign investment into the country by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and several business associations, addressing bribery and promoting transparency and accountability.

In the context of the SUGAR project (“Strengthening Uganda’s Anti-Corruption and Accountability Response”) project, funded by the UK Department for International Development, experts from the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery conducted its first training workshop in early July 2016 as part of an extended train-the-trainer learning programme.

At the opening session of the recent High Level Conference on Illicit Financial Flows: Interagency Cooperation and Good Tax Governance in Africa (Pretoria, South Africa, 14 to 15 July 2016), the South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan highlighted that Africa continues to lose large sums of money annually as a result of illicit financial flows estimated at USD 50 billion every year; the application of complex ownership structures has become the most commonly used means of hiding ownership of assets.

The Basel Institute released its fifth edition of the Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index today. The Index is an annual ranking assessing the money laundering/terrorism financing risks of 149 countries. 

The International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) has further expanded its operational engagement in South America partnering with Paraguay where ICAR experts, in partnership with the Ministerio Público (Public Prosecutor’s Office) of Paraguay, conducted a 5-day training programme in financial investigation and asset recovery in Asunción from 25 to 29 July 2016.

2015 has been a year with many changes for our Institute. We have grown rapidly, more than doubling our staff and increasing our annual operating budget by around 60%. We have also considerably revised our operational strategy and further expanded our thematic reach.

The changes are reflective of global developments and our own institutional learning, after more than 12 years of attempting to contribute to global efforts to reduce corruption and enhance governance.

View the 2015 Annual Report.

At the opening ceremony of the second Financial Investigations and Asset Recovery training workshop in Uganda during August 2016, the Inspector General of Government, Lady Justice Irene Mulyagonja, emphasised the importance of hitting those convicted of corruption where it hurts most: in addition to imprisonment, illicit assets had to be confiscated as this was essential for the anti-corruption fight to be meaningful.