| Basel Institute on Governance

Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners

Read more about Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners

This practical handbook by the Stolen Assets Recovery (StAR) Initiative of The World Bank and UNODC seeks to guide practitioners in the complex process of recovering stolen assets that have been hidden abroad. It covers strategic, organisational, investigative, and legal challenges of recovering assets. The Handbook also "provides common approaches to recovering stolen assets located in foreign jurisdictions, identifies the challenges that practitioners are likely to encounter, and introduces good practices".

The Russian arms dealer case: how Peru recovered stolen assets from a Swiss bank account through non-conviction based confiscation

Read more about The Russian arms dealer case: how Peru recovered stolen assets from a Swiss bank account through non-conviction based confiscation

I recently participated in a panel on the role of non-state actors in the recovery of stolen assets and proceeds of corruption at the 2020 International Anti-Corruption Conference, at which I presented the so-called “Russian arms dealer case”. The case is relatively small in monetary terms – around USD 700,000 plus interest – but hugely significant in terms of asset recovery efforts and international co-operation.

The G20’s responsiveness to B20 anti-corruption recommendations 2010–2017. Part I: Baseline report

Read more about The G20’s responsiveness to B20 anti-corruption recommendations 2010–2017. Part I: Baseline report

How effectively does the Business 20 (B20) process channel recommendations on anti-corruption from the business community up to the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders? Are there ways to increase the uptake of B20 recommendations by the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) and in the final Communiqué at the G20 Summit?

New report highlights 3 ways to enhance B20–G20 dialogue on anti-corruption

Read more about New report highlights 3 ways to enhance B20–G20 dialogue on anti-corruption

Ten-country Advanced Operational Analysis training offers chance to reflect on the effectiveness of AML systems

Read more about Ten-country Advanced Operational Analysis training offers chance to reflect on the effectiveness of AML systems

Twenty anti-corruption investigators and financial intelligence analysts from 10 African countries completed an intensive Advanced Operational Analysis course last week hosted by the Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Centre (CAACC).

Peru recovers USD 8.5 million through non-conviction based confiscation

Read more about Peru recovers USD 8.5 million through non-conviction based confiscation

Peru’s Attorney General’s Office has recorded another successful use of its non-conviction based confiscation law, extinción de dominio, to recover stolen assets from abroad.

The case involves around USD 8.5 million plus interest frozen in a bank account in Switzerland since 2004. The assets derived from contracts for the purchase of overvalued MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft during the government of Alberto Fujimori.

Transparency in Corporate Reporting: South Africa 2020

Read more about Transparency in Corporate Reporting: South Africa 2020

This report examines the corporate governance practices of 100 corporations operating in South Africa. Its methodology and findings highlight the importance of active engagement in Collective Action as part of anti-corruption compliance programmes and reporting.

The press release summarises the recommendations as follows:

The report concludes that the fight against corruption cannot be waged within individual corporations alone, but must extend across a broad scope of organisations, within and outside the business sector.

Navigating between non-conviction based confiscation and Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA)

Read more about Navigating between non-conviction based confiscation and Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA)

This speech was given at a preparatory meeting for the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) against Corruption in 2021.

It deals with non-conviction based confiscation as a method to recover assets stolen through corruption, and how challenges in international cooperation in these cases can and should be overcome.

See Spotlight on non-conviction based confiscation at UNGASS preparatory meeting.

Spotlight on non-conviction based confiscation at UNGASS preparatory meeting

Read more about Spotlight on non-conviction based confiscation at UNGASS preparatory meeting

Senior Asset Recovery Specialist Oscar Solorzano has emphasised some of the key opportunities and challenges of non-conviction based confiscation laws at a preparatory meeting for the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) against Corruption in 2021.

Measuring effectiveness of anti-corruption programmes in the health care sector: Developing indicators through a Collective Action approach

Read more about Measuring effectiveness of anti-corruption programmes in the health care sector: Developing indicators through a Collective Action approach

The Basel Institute’s Collective Action team has facilitated the co-development of a set of indicators that health care companies may wish to consider when reporting on the effectiveness of their anti-corruption efforts to external stakeholders.

The guidance note containing the indicators was developed over seven months by a group of health care companies under an innovative project of Norges Bank Investment Management.

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