Infrastructure is vital for supporting economic growth, enhancing prosperity and well-being. G7 nations and other partnerships have committed to quality and sustainable infrastructure investments based on high standards and shared values to mobilise public and private investment. Unfortunately, infrastructure remains highly exposed to corruption and other irregular practices, and lacks sufficient accountability.
The newsletter starts with a video of Peter Maurer, the Basel Institute's President since October 2022, offering his warm wishes to all those committed to the fight against corruption around the world. It also features our latest news, blogs, quick guides and other publications, as well as joint articles with friends of the Basel Institute. We take this chance to welcome five new staff members to the team.
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The war in Ukraine has caused hundreds of billions of dollars of damage so far, including to critical infrastructure. Funding the country's ongoing and post-war reconstruction efforts is a topic very much under debate. Some suggest that assets frozen under war-related sanctions could be used to partly fund the reconstruction. Could they? How?
This document takes stock of recent progress in strengthening Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure in the face of increased attacks on infrastructure and increased reconstruction efforts. It covers:
The following opening remarks were made by H.E. Graziella Marok-Wachter, Minister of Infrastructure and Justice of the Principality of Liechtenstein, at the 2022 International Anti-Corruption Conference in Washington, D.C. on 7 December 2022.
The session on Using Follow-the-Money Techniques to Detect Environmental Crimes: Potential and Challenges was coordinated by the Basel Institute on Governance in cooperation with the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As the use of crypto assets expands into practically every country and sector, so does its abuse to commit new forms of crime and launder criminal proceeds. Yet with the right tools, capacity and cooperation, the unique characteristics of blockchain-based technologies offer an unprecedented opportunity to investigate organised crime and money laundering networks and to recover stolen funds.
These recommendations follow the 6th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies on 1–2 September 2022. The conference was hosted by Europol at its headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, together with the Basel Institute on Governance through the Joint Working Group on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies.
A new practitioners forum brings together some of the world’s leading conservation and anti-corruption organisations: Transparency International, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), TRAFFIC, and the Basel Institute on Governance.
A key session at the 2022 International Anti-Corruption Conference will shine a spotlight on efforts to take the profit out of environmental crimes like illegal wildlife trade, fishing, logging and mining.
Following (and confiscating) the money seems an obvious way to disrupt criminal networks engaged in environmental crimes, identify the kingpins and corrupt facilitators, and remove the profit motive. In practice, it is proving challenging. Why? What can practitioners do to ensure financial investigations achieve their potential in the fight against environmental crime?
One of the major topics of discussion on- and off-stage at this year’s International Anti-Corruption Conference in Washington D.C. will no doubt be the war of aggression in Ukraine.
A session on 9 December 2022 will explore a tricky but absolutely critical issue: whether and how frozen kleptocratic assets can be confiscated and used to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.