How do illegal wildlife products, live animals, exotic marine species and illegally logged timber end up in stores, zoos, aquariums and homes on the other side of the world?

Too easily, is the answer. Weaknesses in global supply chains make them vulnerable to exploitation by organised crime groups and bad actors working in legitimate businesses. Corruption opens the door to that exploitation. And the easy possibilities for laundering money from environmental crimes makes this illicit activity attractive to criminals around the world.

At a high-profile speech at the Ukraine 30 Forum last week, the Basel Institute's Managing Director Gretta Fenner emphasised that it is critical that Ukraine swiftly and professionally concludes the asset recovery processes started after the Revolution of Dignity. She also urged the country to fully empower its anti-corruption institutions and reduce the hurdles that have been put in their ways. High levels of corruption continue to drain the country's resources and threaten its democracy.

The Basel Institute on Governance and the Thai Institute of Directors (IOD), in conjunction with the Thai Private Sector Collective Action Against Corruption (Thai CAC), have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly support the promotion of anti-corruption compliance.

The agreement covers the launch of a pilot project that aims to encourage the local certification of anti-corruption compliance programmes in SMEs, while alleviating the due diligence burden on multi-national companies.

H.E. Ambassador Stefan Estermann, Head of the Prosperity and Sustainability Division, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, made the following opening remarks at our joint virtual side event on Collective Action at the 2021 Special Session of the General Assembly against Corruption (UNGASS) on 2 June. View the full recording of the side event.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are delighted to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Zambia.

Under the new partnership, our International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) will support the Commission’s efforts to investigate and prosecute corruption cases and to identify and recover stolen assets. This includes support for international cooperation to obtain intelligence and evidence from abroad.