Coalition for Ethical Operations

On September 10, 2020, the Basel Institute's Tim Wittig and Juhani Grossmann presented to the Dutch Compliance Officers Association on the nexus of corruption and illegal wildlife trade. 

Thirty-five compliance experts, largely from financial institutions, participated in the conference. It featured a lively debate about:

Representatives from nine leading Collective Action initiatives that offer local anti-corruption compliance certification gathered yesterday at a virtual roundtable. The event was part of a wider Basel Institute's project on certification initiatives funded by the KBA-NotaSys Integrity Fund.

The idea is to support local certification of anti-corruption compliance programmes in particular in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that supply larger customers.

Our Collective Action team is working with companies to find synergies in human rights and anti-corruption compliance.

The idea: Companies invest significant resources in anti-corruption and human rights compliance programmes, often developing them separately. We believe there are synergies between these areas that will contribute to the effectiveness and cost efficiencies of both programmes.

The first Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) of the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office (SFO), secured on 30 November 2015 at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, has on 26 August 2020 given rise to a plea bargain settlement in Tanzania. As announced by Tanzania’s National Prosecutions Service (NPS), this nets the Tanzanian authorities TZS 1.5 billion (approx. USD 650,000 or GBP 500,000).

At a high-level B20 panel on “Enhancing Integrity for Responsible and Inclusive Growth” on 24 August, Gemma Aiolfi, the Basel Institute’s Head of Compliance, Corporate Governance and Collective Action, discussed how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been forced to focus on survival in recent months.

Thirty-three prosecutors, 22 judges and 22 investigators from across Mozambique’s 11 provinces have completed a series of intensive training courses on anti-corruption and asset recovery.

Delivered by the Mozambique team of our International Centre for Asset Recovery, the training sessions took place over three weeks from 17 August to 4 September. Investigators from SERNIC, Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service, joined prosecutors from the Prosecutor General’s Office and judges from across the country.

A new case study study from our compliance team shows how tailored support for anti-corruption compliance can make micro businesses more confident about promoting their services on the global market.

A new case study from our compliance team shows how tailored support for anti-corruption compliance can help innovative small businesses succeed even in challenging markets.

Oscar Solórzano participated in a virtual discussion with Ecuadorian legislators and other leading asset recovery experts from across Latin America on 2 September. The topic: Non-conviction-based confiscation legislation as a tool to recover assets arising from corruption.