[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":511},["ShallowReactive",2],{"author-297":3,"author-team-297":7,"author-work-297":8},{"id":4,"name":5,"image":6},297,"Gretta Fenner","06f7143f-fe9b-45df-87a0-8c2e8f721109",null,{"publications":9,"news":287},[10,34,46,63,82,94,122,139,162,177,198,220,248,273],{"id":11,"title":12,"slug":13,"image":14,"type":15,"date_published":17,"publisher":18,"summary":7,"body":19,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":20,"countries":22,"tags":29},2306,"A Swiss–Peruvian asset recovery case boosts prospects for non-conviction based forfeiture (The Academy Bulletin)","swiss-peruvian-asset-recovery-case-boosts-prospects-non-conviction-based-forfeiture","17760cb2-f1dd-45f5-9816-325062913bd7",[16],"Article","2023-06-01","International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators","In an article published in the inaugural issue of the Bulletin of The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators, Oscar Solorzano and Gretta Fenner analyse a recent decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, which cleared the way for returning funds tied to corruption to Peru. The decision sets an important precedent for the use of non-conviction based forfeiture laws to recover illicit assets in the absence of a criminal conviction. This is a crucial step in the fight against global corruption. \n\nThe Bulletin is a new publication from The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators. It has been established to transmit the work of Academy Fellows, draw attention to matters of importance to the legal community and provide high-level analysis of cutting-edge issues in global financial crime investigations and litigation. The Basel Institute on Governance acts as Secretariat to the Academy.",[21],"English",[23,26],{"countries_id":24},{"name":25},"Switzerland",{"countries_id":27},{"name":28},"Peru",[30],{"tags_id":31},{"id":32,"name":33},1379,"Non-conviction based forfeiture",{"id":35,"title":36,"slug":37,"image":38,"type":39,"date_published":40,"publisher":41,"summary":7,"body":42,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":43,"countries":44,"tags":45},1850,"Perspectives 3: Asset recovery and wildlife trafficking","perspectives-3-asset-recovery-and-wildlife-trafficking","33d034a5-6393-4ba9-a96e-d2555c395ddd",[16],"2020-06-29","Basel Institute on Governance; The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators","Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is in the global spotlight thanks to its alleged role in triggering the coronavirus pandemic. It is sparking vivid debate among communities of experts not just in conservation, but in business, finance, technology, anti-corruption forces and law. \n\nOne such debate is taking place in the ranks of litigation service providers and economic crime experts of the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.financialcrimelitigators.org\u002F\">International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators\u003C\u002Fa> and \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fillegal-wildlife-trade\">IWT specialists at the Basel Institute on Governance\u003C\u002Fa>. \n\nThis short series presents their different expert perspectives on topics crucial to combating IWT.\n\nIn this edition, Gretta Fenner, Managing Director of the Basel Institute on Governance and Keith Oliver, Head of International at Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP together with his colleague Amalia Neenan, Legal Researcher, explore the role of asset recovery in combating wildlife trafficking. Gretta Fenner and Keith Oliver are Founding Fellows of the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators.",[21],[],[],{"id":47,"title":48,"slug":49,"image":50,"type":51,"date_published":53,"publisher":54,"summary":7,"body":55,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":56,"countries":57,"tags":58},1859,"Asset recovery in the light of covid-19 - five questions open to debate","asset-recovery-light-covid-19-five-questions-open-debate","d8e46f15-91c0-446f-993e-91776adf23a5",[16,52],"Report","2020-04-22","Basel Institute on Governance","This special analysis look at five initial areas for the asset recovery community to consider in the light of the covid-19 pandemic. It has been put together based on insights of the Basel Institute's asset recovery team. It covers: \n\n\n- Technology and the digital divide\n- Legal and bureaucratic hurdles to recovering stolen assets\n- Political will amid increased social pressures\n- Raised stakes in ongoing debates, including over the use of returned assets\n- The wider role of asset recovery in anti-corruption and sustainable development\n\n\nThe analysis is not meant to be exhaustive but to encourage feedback, debate and thinking outside the box.",[21],[],[59],{"tags_id":60},{"id":61,"name":62},1381,"Health",{"id":64,"title":65,"slug":66,"image":67,"type":68,"date_published":70,"publisher":54,"summary":7,"body":71,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":72,"countries":76,"tags":77},1878,"Quick Guide 13: Financial crime in illegal wildlife trade","quick-guide-13-financial-crime-illegal-wildlife-trade","ca42d1bb-5040-496b-baee-d3e86a8b3de4",[69],"Quick Guide","2019-11-26","Every day, an unknown number of elephant tusks, rhino horn, pangolin scales and other wildlife products – alive and dead – cross the oceans in container ships and cargo flights for use in traditional medicine, crafts and the illegal pet trade. Rare trees are felled in ancient forests and shipped out under false certificates.\n\nThey leave behind the butchered carcasses of the last remaining animals of many species, scarred and emptied landscapes, legal livelihoods undermined by corruption and criminal activity, and communities ravaged by organised crime networks.\n\nThe Basel Institute is contributing to tackling \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fillegal-wildlife-trade\">illegal wildlife trade\u003C\u002Fa> and its negative impacts on communities, economies and biodiversity from the angle of financial crime. This quick guide by our Managing Director Gretta Fenner gives an insight into our approach and how our various areas of expertise fit together to help solve this complex puzzle.\n\n### About this Quick Guide\n\nThis work is licensed under a \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License\u003C\u002Fa>. It is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Quick Guide series, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications?type=2428\">ISSN 2673-5229\u003C\u002Fa>.",[21,73,74,75],"French","Portuguese","Spanish",[],[78],{"tags_id":79},{"id":80,"name":81},1303,"Environment",{"id":83,"title":84,"slug":85,"image":86,"type":87,"date_published":89,"publisher":54,"summary":7,"body":90,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":91,"countries":92,"tags":93},1882,"Basel Institute newsletter – September 2019","basel-institute-newsletter-september-2019","77adbf8e-1ffe-4e45-b373-93c06bdb7659",[88],"Newsletter","2019-09-18","View our \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmailchi.mp\u002F598990e06800\u002Fnew-website-new-projects-new-impact-in-our-fight-against-financial-crime-452679\">September newsletter here\u003C\u002Fa>.",[21],[],[],{"id":95,"title":96,"slug":97,"image":98,"type":99,"date_published":101,"publisher":54,"summary":7,"body":102,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":103,"countries":104,"tags":113},1970,"Working Paper 24: It takes two to tango. Decision-making processes on asset return","working-paper-24-it-takes-two-tango-decision-making-processes-asset-return","83a866a9-39e6-440c-9e4f-88c4c5c7c2ce",[100],"Working Paper","2017-10-01","This Working Paper presents findings from a research project that sought to better understand decision-making processes on the return of illegally obtained assets using the examples of past cases of returning assets that had been stolen from Kazakhstan, Peru and the Philippines. While previous papers on the subject of returning stolen assets and end-use of returned assets were based on third-party and desk research, the research feeding into this working paper is based on first-hand accounts collected through semi-structured interviews with key decision makers involved in these cases in the concerned states.\n\nThe key objective of the research was to better understand the motivations, considerations and processes that led to the decisions on how and for what purpose to use returned assets. In this context, the report in particular looks at a question often debated in asset recovery circles, namely whether there may be a power imbalance between requesting and requested states in these processes despite the fact that requesting states are legally empowered through the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).\n\nThe potential existence of such a power imbalance has in the past often given rise to concern, as it is perceived to potentially compromise the fundamental principles of asset return of UNCAC and the sovereignty of the concerned states.\n\n### About this Working Paper\n\nThis paper is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Series, \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fpublications?type[]=255\">ISSN: 2624-9650\u003C\u002Fa>.",[21],[105,108,110],{"countries_id":106},{"name":107},"Kazakhstan",{"countries_id":109},{"name":28},{"countries_id":111},{"name":112},"Philippines",[114,118],{"tags_id":115},{"id":116,"name":117},973,"Corruption",{"tags_id":119},{"id":120,"name":121},843,"Asset recovery",{"id":123,"title":124,"slug":125,"image":126,"type":127,"date_published":128,"publisher":54,"summary":7,"body":129,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":130,"countries":131,"tags":132},2074,"Working Paper 17: The role of donors in the recovery of stolen assets","working-paper-17-role-donors-recovery-stolen-assets","06562d80-00e7-4561-adb5-3261f72e3330",[100],"2014-12-01","Financial crimes such as corruption, fraud, and embezzlement generate significant profits, often at the expense of the public budget. These proceeds of crime are usually hidden outside of the country where the crime was originally committed, and laundered through complex financial and commercial transactions, often spanning across numerous jurisdictions.\n\n\u003Ca href=\"\u002Fnode\u002F25\">Asset recovery\u003C\u002Fa> – the process of identifying, restraining, seizing, and repatriating these assets to the countries from whence they were originally stolen – is one of the greatest challenges for the global anti-corruption movement. Asset recovery is also an essential development challenge, as it usually involves repatriating funds back to a developing country where they were stolen, and where they could be used to support development projects.\n\nAs a bridge between aid recipient and donor countries, donor agencies are uniquely positioned to support asset recovery initiatives. Interesting examples are emerging of how donors can support asset recovery by:\n\n\n- supporting international standards and initiatives;\n- providing technical assistance and capacity building (most often through third parties);\n- encouraging policy coherence at home;\n- helping build political will; and\n- providing assistance during the asset repatriation phase.\n\n\n### About this Working Paper\n\nThis paper is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Series, \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fpublications?type[]=255\">ISSN: 2624-9650\u003C\u002Fa>.",[21],[],[133,135],{"tags_id":134},{"id":120,"name":121},{"tags_id":136},{"id":137,"name":138},1299,"Development assistance",{"id":140,"title":141,"slug":142,"image":143,"type":144,"date_published":145,"publisher":54,"summary":7,"body":146,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":147,"countries":148,"tags":159},2088,"Returning Stolen Assets - Learning from past practice","returning-stolen-assets-learning-past-practice","00ef9482-f3d9-4a1f-b125-7261485c9420",[52],"2013-10-23","Before the adoption of UNCAC, there was no policy or international legal framework guiding the disposal and monitoring of repatriated assets. As a result, there were no globally accepted rules to follow when repatriating confiscated assets to requesting countries. \n\nEven after the adoption of UNCAC, global practice regarding the disposal of repatriated assets remains unclear. Indeed Article 57 (5) of UNCAC does not provide clear guidance in relation to the final disposal of confiscated assets.\n\nThe selected case studies in Peru, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Angola explore the proactive and innovative practice of Switzerland in the past decade in recovering, repatriating and monitoring stolen assets. \n\nThese four cases, which are different from various aspects, in particular the types of the mechanism of monitoring, are insightful and yield some important lessons. The lessons drawn in the respective cases highlight the successes achieved as well as some challenges encountered. The Swiss experience has influenced reflection on existing policies and legislation regarding the disposal and monitoring of repatriated assets, including in the context of the introduction by the Federal Council of the Restitution of Illicit Assets Act (RIAA 2011) and, in May 2013, the opening of a consultation procedure on the draft of a new federal act on the freezing and restitution of potentates’ assets.\n\nThis selection of case studies has been drafted as background document to the two-day workshop on Returning Stolen Assets, organised by the Basel Institute on Governance’s \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fnode\u002F25\">International Centre for Asset Recovery\u003C\u002Fa> (ICAR) in collaboration with the Directorate for Public International Law of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA\u002FDPIL) in October 2013 in Küsnacht\u002FZürich, Switzerland. ",[21],[149,151,154,156],{"countries_id":150},{"name":28},{"countries_id":152},{"name":153},"Nigeria",{"countries_id":155},{"name":107},{"countries_id":157},{"name":158},"Angola",[160],{"tags_id":161},{"id":120,"name":121},{"id":163,"title":164,"slug":165,"image":166,"type":167,"date_published":169,"publisher":170,"summary":7,"body":171,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":172,"countries":173,"tags":174},2096,"Emerging Trends in Asset Recovery","emerging-trends-asset-recovery","9c1db455-546e-4f4b-983c-7da55c49a3ae",[168],"Book","2013-01-01","Peter Lang","Street protests in the ‘Arab Spring’ countries have illustrated that public demand for recovering stolen assets has grown exponentially, as have expectations by concerned populations and governments. From a topic discussed in expert forums, it has thus become a topic of the people. The question is: Have practitioners and policy makers delivered on these expectations?\n\nClearly, since the ratification of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) ten years ago, much progress has been made in streamlining respective legal and institutional frameworks. On the other hand, we also find that practical successes on the ground remain few and far apart, and largely limited to a handful of countries.\n\nThis book asks why and, through the voice of renowned practitioners from a broad range of affected countries, analyses challenges that remain, identifies new stumbling blocks that have cropped up, and discusses practical solutions that are being tested with a view to overcoming these.\n\nThe book is published by the Basel Institute on Governance’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR).",[21],[],[175],{"tags_id":176},{"id":120,"name":121},{"id":178,"title":179,"slug":180,"image":181,"type":182,"date_published":183,"publisher":184,"summary":7,"body":185,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":186,"countries":187,"tags":191},2115,"Practical hurdles to effective international recovery of stolen assets","practical-hurdles-effective-international-recovery-stolen-assets","b712e872-7e11-4ebe-bb65-bb3876ab66d9",[16],"2012-08-01","Indonesian Directorate General of Law and Treaty","The Indonesian \"Direktorat Jenderal Hukum Dan Perjanjian Internasional\" (Directorate General of Law and Treaty) published a book in its series \"Opinio Juris\" featuring the article \"Practical Hurdles to Effective International Recovery of Stolen Assets\" written by Gretta Fenner Zinkernagel and Anja Roth.",[21],[188],{"countries_id":189},{"name":190},"Indonesia",[192,196],{"tags_id":193},{"id":194,"name":195},1373,"Corruption prevention",{"tags_id":197},{"id":120,"name":121},{"id":199,"title":200,"slug":201,"image":202,"type":203,"date_published":204,"publisher":205,"summary":7,"body":206,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":207,"countries":208,"tags":209},2150,"Non-State Actors as Standard Setters","non-state-actors-standard-setters","6cecc054-a961-4c56-b4bc-81a6063b03fd",[168],"2009-09-01","Cambridge University Press","This analysis of 'globalised' standard-setting processes draws together insights from law, political sciences, sociology and social anthropology to assess the authority and accountability of non-state actors and the legitimacy and effectiveness of the processes. The essays offer new understandings of current governance problems, including environmental and financial standards, rules for military contractors and complex public-private partnerships, such as those intended to protect critical information infrastructure.\n\nThe contributions also evaluate multi-stakeholder initiatives (such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative), and discuss the constitution of public norms in stateless areas. A synopsis of the latest results of the World Governance Indicator, arguably one of the most important surveys in the area today, is included.",[21],[],[210,214,216],{"tags_id":211},{"id":212,"name":213},1371,"Public governance",{"tags_id":215},{"id":80,"name":81},{"tags_id":217},{"id":218,"name":219},909,"Collective Action",{"id":221,"title":222,"slug":223,"image":224,"type":225,"date_published":226,"publisher":227,"summary":7,"body":228,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":229,"countries":230,"tags":231},2153,"Financial institutions and the fight against corruption","financial-institutions-and-fight-against-corruption","2f447aaa-48f4-49aa-8bbf-c9d7fecd67bd",[16],"2009-01-01","Transparency International","The private sector plays a pivotal role in fighting corruption worldwide. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report 2009 documents in unique detail the many corruption risks for businesses, ranging from small entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa to multinationals from Europe and North America. More than 75 experts examine the scale, scope and devastating consequences of a wide range of corruption issues, including bribery and policy capture, corporate fraud, cartels, corruption in supply chains and transnational transactions, emerging challenges for carbon trading markets, sovereign wealth funds and growing economic centres, such as Brazil, China and India.\n\nThe Global Corruption Report 2009 also discusses the most promising tools to tackle corruption in business, identifies pressing areas for reform and outlines how companies, governments, investors, consumers and other stakeholders can contribute to raising corporate integrity and meeting the challenges that corruption poses to sustainable economic growth and development.\n\nThis chapter by Gretta Fenner appears in the section \"Corruption and the private sector – Towards a comprehensive business integrity system\", pp. 138-145.",[21],[],[232,236,240,244],{"tags_id":233},{"id":234,"name":235},830,"Business integrity",{"tags_id":237},{"id":238,"name":239},982,"Anti-corruption",{"tags_id":241},{"id":242,"name":243},818,"Anti-money laundering",{"tags_id":245},{"id":246,"name":247},867,"Financial crime",{"id":249,"title":250,"slug":251,"image":252,"type":253,"date_published":226,"publisher":254,"summary":7,"body":255,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":256,"countries":257,"tags":258},2154,"Curbing the risks of and opportunities for corruption in natural disaster situations","curbing-risks-and-opportunities-corruption-natural-disaster-situations","646b0e8a-a8bd-46b8-8625-8a4f958001b6",[16],"International Development Law Organization (IDLO)","This chapter appears in International Law and Standards Applicable in Natural Disaster Situations edited by Erica Harper.\n\nThe book aims to stimulate thought and action in relation to establishing human rights frameworks in countries recovering from natural disasters. The authors regard this as essential in order to protect the rights and restore the dignity of the victims of natural disasters. While a substantial body of relevant law exists, the law is only effective if disaster recovery planners and the people working in the field know and understand it. By building legal protections into preparedness and response planning, the recovery timetable can be shortened and order restored more quickly and effectively. At the same time, this process will help to uncover and address systemic injustices that cause continuing poverty and social unrest.\n\nThe aim of this chapter by Gretta Fenner and Mirella Mahlstein is to build awareness of the increased and particular corruption risks of natural disaster situations, to illuminate individual risks and respective responsibilities among the different involved actors, and to provide guidance on tools and mechanisms to prevent and detect corruption when it occurs.",[21],[],[259,263,267,271],{"tags_id":260},{"id":261,"name":262},932,"Human rights",{"tags_id":264},{"id":265,"name":266},859,"Corruption risks",{"tags_id":268},{"id":269,"name":270},1382,"Humanitarian assistance",{"tags_id":272},{"id":238,"name":239},{"id":274,"title":275,"slug":276,"image":277,"type":278,"date_published":279,"publisher":54,"summary":7,"body":280,"area":7,"programme":7,"languages":281,"countries":283,"tags":284},2171,"Working Paper 3: Verhaltensregeln für die Verwaltung von Vorsorgeeinrichtungen","working-paper-3-verhaltensregeln-fur-die-verwaltung-von-vorsorgeeinrichtungen","3b49bfe8-9cef-4ac2-b4ec-22de09c8823f",[100],"2007-01-01","Eine ganze Reihe von Problemfällen hat zu einer breiten Diskussion über das Verhalten der Verantwortlichen für Vorsorgeeinrichtungen geführt, insbesondere bei der internen und externen Verwaltung der Vorsorgevermögens, und aufgezeigt, dass beachtliche Defizite bestehen, vor allem wenn Vergleiche mit anderen professionellen Vermögensverwaltern, wie Banken, gezogen werden.\n\nIm Vordergrund muss der Schutz des guten Rufs der einzelnen Vorsorgeeinrichtung sowie das Vertrauen der Begünstigten in die Integrität der mit der Verwaltung dieses Sozialkapitals Betrauten stehen. Grundsätzlich sollten deshalb an Vorsorgeeinrichtungen, was den guten Ruf ihrer obersten Organe und die Gewährleistung der Ordnungsmässigkeit angeht, vergleichbare Anforderungen gestellt werden.\n\n### About this Working Paper\n\nThis paper is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Series, \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fpublications?type[]=255\">ISSN: 2624-9650\u003C\u002Fa>.",[282],"German",[],[285],{"tags_id":286},{"id":234,"name":235},[288,297,305,314,326,335,344,353,362,371,380,389,398,407,418,429,439,450,458,467,476,485,494,503],{"id":289,"title":290,"slug":291,"image":7,"type":292,"date":293,"body":294,"language":7,"tags":295,"translations":296},10432,"FCPA Blog: How seizing sanctioned assets can strengthen the rule of law","fcpa-blog-how-seizing-sanctioned-assets-can-strengthen-the-rule-of-law-2600","Blog","2023-02-27","_This blog was originally published on the FCPA Blog, which was discontinued in February 2024._\n\nHundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets sit frozen in bank accounts, buildings, and harbors, thanks to the unprecedented financial sanctions rolled out since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 2022. Understandably, states holding large quantities of Russian assets are under political pressure to permanently seize these and redirect the money to support Ukraine.\n\nBut political pressure and rule of law are different things, and permanently seizing those assets is not as easy as some make it sound. Hence the debate that is currently raging: should states be able to confiscate those assets purely on the basis that they have been sanctioned?\n\nA dangerous path\n\nOur recent working paper [_From Sanctions to Confiscation While Upholding the Rule of Law_](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-42) examines this debate in depth. It considers the justifiability and legality of new legislative mechanisms that allow a state to permanently seize an asset purely because its holder is under sanction. Canada has already included such a mechanism in its _Special Economic Measures Act_, though it is yet to be tested in court.\n\nIn brief, our analysis concludes that any mechanisms used to confiscate assets need to be in line with the rule of law. They must respect established legal rights and afford due process. If they do not, states open themselves up to legal challenges and the possibility of having confiscation orders overturned after years of wrangling in higher courts. \n\nA better way\n\nThe good news is that most states already have established pathways to target assets that are frozen under sanctions. \n\nIn the working paper, we highlight how both criminal and civil (non-conviction-based) forfeiture mechanisms can be used to target assets where they can be linked to offenses such as sanctions violations, money laundering, or organized crime. \n\nThe U.S. has long used civil forfeiture mechanisms to confiscate assets where it can be demonstrated to a civil standard of proof that the assets were derived from or used in criminal activity. Such mechanisms do not require a criminal conviction before they can be applied. This makes them a powerful option to target the assets of kleptocrats adept at sidestepping criminal prosecutions.\n\nAnother option to seize financially sanctioned assets would be unexplained wealth or [illicit enrichment legislation](https:\u002F\u002Flearn.baselgovernance.org\u002Fcourse\u002Fview.php?id=28). Since such laws reverse the burden of proof onto a person to demonstrate the lawful sources of their assets, states would not need to acquire evidence of criminal activity from potentially uncooperative jurisdictions.\n\nNot all countries, however, have non-conviction-based forfeiture or unexplained wealth mechanisms. Where they do, their scope varies widely, and international cooperation is a challenge. Introducing, applying, and cooperating in the context of these laws would go a long way to targeting those frozen assets. \n\nStrengthening systems\n\nBeyond maximizing the toolkit to target assets frozen under sanctions, states can also make smaller but necessary adjustments to maximize the potential of their laws.\n\nThese may include broadening the scope of relevant terms such as “property” or “money laundering” or ensuring that non-conviction-based forfeiture mechanisms apply to the widest possible definition of “unlawful conduct.” \n\nAs the U.S. [has done](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.congress.gov\u002Fbill\u002F117th-congress\u002Fhouse-bill\u002F2617\u002Ftext), states may also need to amend laws governing the end use of seized assets to permit them to be redirected to the victims of aggression rather than returned to the aggressor state from which they were stolen.\n\nBeyond legislation, states could improve domestic and international coordination by establishing specialist law enforcement task forces such as the [U.S. Task Force KleptoCapture](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.justice.gov\u002Fopa\u002Fpr\u002Fattorney-general-merrick-b-garland-announces-launch-task-force-kleptocapture) and the [Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force](https:\u002F\u002Fhome.treasury.gov\u002Fnews\u002Fpress-releases\u002Fjy0839). And as anti-corruption advocates have argued for many years, allocating adequate resources to these efforts so that they can actually be effective is fundamental.\n\nBolstering defenses against kleptocracy\n\nStrengthening and applying established asset recovery mechanisms will not only increase the chances of successfully seizing assets in the long run. It will also uphold the rule of law that the Ukrainians are fighting for.\n\nBeyond that, concerted efforts to strengthen asset recovery mechanisms and cooperation will aid in the broader fight against corruption and related financial crimes.\n\nCorruption is a national security issue and a global security imperative. Stopping corruption is key to stopping kleptocracies from gaining illegitimate power and influence – and, as we have sadly seen, using that to launch illegal wars and to corrupt the rules-based order.",[],[],{"id":298,"title":299,"slug":300,"image":7,"type":292,"date":301,"body":302,"language":7,"tags":303,"translations":304},10434,"FCPA Blog: Basel AML Index – Going beyond the money laundering leaderboard","fcpa-blog-basel-aml-index-going-beyond-the-money-laundering-leaderboard-2603","2022-09-22","_This blog was originally published on the FCPA Blog, which was discontinued in February 2024._\n\nLast week’s publication of our 10th annual [Basel AML Index](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fbasel-aml-index-2021-4-things-holding-back-global-fight-against-money-laundering) – which assesses money laundering risks around the world and ranks jurisdictions on how well they’re addressing them – has triggered two types of response.\n\nAs usual, people first want to see how their country is doing on the AML\u002FCFT “league table.” How is the country ranked compared to its neighbors? Has the risk score gone up or down? Sadly, the answer to that last question is: mostly up. The average global money laundering risk score increased slightly this year from 5.22 to 5.3 out of 10.\n\nThis kind of league table response hits headlines, but it misses the point. The point of the Basel AML Index is to illuminate weaknesses in national, regional, and global financial systems that leave them open to abuse by money launderers, those financing terrorism, and other criminals. After all, the fight against corruption and money laundering is not a competition but a team effort.\n\nSome of the weaknesses revealed by the Basel AML Index are caused by the continuous evolution of financial crime typologies. Ten years ago, for example, cryptocurrencies were barely heard of; now, as our [report explores](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2021-09\u002FBasel_AML_Index_2021_10th%20Edition.pdf), regulators and reporting entities are scrambling to get on top of the risks.\n\nIn other areas, not all jurisdictions are scrambling enough. Our analysis, for example, supports growing concerns that beneficial ownership transparency is not being implemented as fast or as effectively as it should be. This is not only a problem for law enforcement seeking information on suspected criminals or for financial institutions trying to conduct customer due diligence in the dark. It undermines global efforts to combat corruption and money laundering because it leaves opaque spots on the world map where criminals can set up anonymous corporate structures to launder their illicit money.\n\nThen we have the blind spots. This year, we have shone a light on money laundering risks beyond the financial sector. Data-crunching shows that lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, and other designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) continue to underperform on compliance with AML\u002FCFT standards. Tighter regulations, more supervision, and credible enforcement are urgently needed to close that gap.\n\nLastly, and most disappointingly, weaknesses that we have pointed out year after year since the first edition of the Basel AML Index have barely been addressed. The effectiveness of AML\u002FCFT systems is the elephant in the room here. On average, countries assessed by the FATF for the effectiveness of their AML\u002FCFT frameworks score a woeful 30 percent. This means it is still all too common for jurisdictions to have laws and institutions in place that are largely compliant with FATF Recommendations yet ineffective in practice.\n\nTired of repeating this message, this year, we looked more closely at the data to see whether the problem was prevention, enforcement, or both. We saw that jurisdictions consistently score even worse for the prevention of money laundering than they do for enforcement. Why this is, is an excellent question to ask and a hard one to answer. Unlike for enforcement, there is very little hard data to measure the effectiveness of preventive measures.\n\nSmart governments, or those that mean what they preach, will look at this and invest more resources in preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. A fire contained is always better than an arsonist caught when the house has burnt down. This obviously shouldn’t come at the expense of enforcement because arsonists also have to be caught and punished.\n\nAnd if all players in government and the private sector work to better understand and address their money laundering risks – as well as keep up with global trends like those above – maybe, just maybe, all countries will creep up the Basel AML Index league table next year.",[],[],{"id":306,"title":307,"slug":308,"image":309,"type":292,"date":310,"body":311,"language":7,"tags":312,"translations":313},10285,"Don’t let a kleptocrat’s war destroy Ukraine’s reconstruction","dont-let-a-kleptocrats-war-destroy-ukraines-reconstruction-2245","6c48dff8-a5ca-4d26-b214-b5af7cf4ff03","2022-07-04","_Ukraine’s recovery will require billions of dollars – so leaders pledging reconstruction funds need to ensure Ukraine’s anti-corruption defences are up to the task. A joint opinion article by_ _Gretta Fenner, Managing Director, Basel Institute on Governance and Andrii Borovyk, Executive Director, Transparency International Ukraine. [View it in Ukrainian here.](https:\u002F\u002Fti-ukraine.org\u002Fblogs\u002Fne-dozvolte-vijni-kleptokrativ-zavadyty-vidbudovi-ukrayiny\u002F)_\n\nThe ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is causing unspeakable human tragedy. In addition, it is destroying the country’s economy and essential infrastructure. Rebuilding these won’t bring back those who died under Russian bombardments, but it will be critical for Ukraine’s recovery. And it is critical for Europe and the world; the war has only too dramatically illustrated how vulnerable and inter-dependent we all are.\n\nOn July 4 and 5 in Lugano, Switzerland, the Ukraine Recovery Conference will see leaders from around the world pledge hopefully billions to finance this recovery. It is estimated that up to USD 1 trillion will be needed, a sum likely to increase as the war wages on.\n\nWe applaud this and hope that these will not remain pledges, but that the urgently needed funds will be made available swiftly and generously. But in our [recommendations to those leaders](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fukraine-recovery-conference-anti-corruption-critical-condition-sustainable-recovery), we stress that where there is money, there is temptation. We highlight the need to prioritise the leadership selection process of Ukraine’s formidable anti-corruption institutions, including courts, use transparent procurement systems for reconstruction efforts, and strengthen the asset recovery systems so that they can help fuel the reconstruction efforts.\n\nEvery reconstruction effort brings with it massive corruption potential. In this regard, Ukraine will be no different from any other country which has seen a massive influx of funds as a result of natural disaster or war. Think Afghanistan, think Iraq, think the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.\n\nAnti-corruption has been high on Ukraine’s political agenda before the war. But even with significant reforms since 2014, the country is far from ready to withstand the inevitable attack by kleptocrats, organised criminal groups and corrupt officials at all levels who see a golden opportunity in Ukraine’s tragedy.\n\nLong before the Kremlin decided to invade Ukraine, it had been waging another war in Ukraine. This war pits the rule of law against the kleptocratic Soviet past which the Kremlin today wholeheartedly embraces as a vision for its present and future. Well aware that its legitimacy quickly crumbles when other countries with similar history make moves in the opposite direction, it has invented the Kremlin playbook to stop any such attempt in its tracks.\n\nWith the help of willing local enablers, it exports corruption to infiltrate the target countries’ governance, to deprive them of their resources and to destabilise their social fabric. Ultimately it destroys their statehood to the extent that in some of them, it is today those Russian sponsored kleptocratic enablers who are in charge; elected governments are kept around for a thin veneer of legitimacy.\n\nUkraine needs military support to fight back the Russian aggression, save its people and regain its territorial integrity. But Ukraine also needs anti-corruption weapons so that it can fight the kleptocratic Kremlin in this parallel war. If corruption is allowed to go unchecked, Ukraine’s reconstruction would hand a massive victory to those who benefit from this subversive kleptocratic war.\n\nTalking about corruption is never pleasant. Admitting that a country has corruption risks makes many squirm. But if we want to truly honour the heroic Ukrainian people and their sacrifices, corruption must be squarely at the centre of planning and implementation of recovery.\n\nWe urge world leaders to keep in mind these recommendations. Because if we don’t, then we allow the Kremlin to destroy Ukraine not once, but twice. And because nothing would undermine the Kleptocratic Kremlin more than a Ukraine that is able to rise from the ashes with integrity.\n\n_[See our joint recommendations in full](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2022-07\u002FUkraine-AC-recommendations_final.pdf) in English, [download the shorter infographic](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2022-07\u002FLuganoInfographic2.pdf) or view the [recommendations in Ukrainian](https:\u002F\u002Fti-ukraine.org\u002Fnews\u002Fantykoruptsiya-yak-krytychna-umova-stalogo-vidnovlennya\u002F)._\n\n_The blog post is available in Ukrainian here: [НЕ ДОЗВОЛЬТЕ ВІЙНІ КЛЕПТОКРАТІВ ЗАВАДИТИ ВІДБУДОВІ УКРАЇНИ](https:\u002F\u002Fti-ukraine.org\u002Fblogs\u002Fne-dozvolte-vijni-kleptokrativ-zavadyty-vidbudovi-ukrayiny\u002F)._",[],[],{"id":315,"title":316,"slug":317,"image":318,"type":319,"date":320,"body":321,"language":7,"tags":322,"translations":325},10286,"Ukraine Recovery Conference: Anti-corruption as a critical condition for sustainable recovery","ukraine-recovery-conference-anti-corruption-as-a-critical-condition-for-sustainable-recovery-2243","3db7af31-ead2-4b51-bdf8-b8622d85ef51","News","2022-07-01","On 4–5 July in Lugano, Switzerland, the [Ukraine Recovery Conference](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.eda.admin.ch\u002Feda\u002Fen\u002Ffdfa\u002Ffdfa\u002Faktuell\u002Fdossiers\u002Falle-dossiers\u002Furc2022-lugano.html) will see leaders from around the world pledge hopefully billions to finance Ukraine's post-war recovery and reconstruction.\n\nWill they be talking about corruption?\n\nEvery reconstruction effort brings with it massive corruption potential. Anti-corruption has been high on Ukraine’s political agenda before the war. But even with significant reforms since 2014, the country is far from ready to withstand the inevitable attack by kleptocrats, organised criminal groups and corrupt officials at all levels who see a golden opportunity in Ukraine’s tragedy.\n\nTogether with Transparency International Ukraine, we at the Basel Institute on Governance have developed [recommendations](http:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2022-07\u002FUkraine-AC-recommendations_final.pdf) to the leaders who will be gathering in Lugano. Representatives from our organisations will be there to advocate for the reforms we recommend.\n\nIn the recommendations, we highlight the need to: \n\n*   prioritise the leadership selection process and reforms of Ukraine’s formidable anti-corruption institutions, including courts;\n*   use transparent procurement systems for reconstruction efforts;\n*   strengthen asset recovery systems so that money stolen through corruption in the past can be used to help fuel reconstruction efforts.\n\n[See the full recommendations here](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2022-07\u002FUkraine-AC-recommendations_final.pdf), [download the infographic](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2022-07\u002FLuganoInfographic2.pdf) or view the [recommendations in Ukrainian](https:\u002F\u002Fti-ukraine.org\u002Fnews\u002Fantykoruptsiya-yak-krytychna-umova-stalogo-vidnovlennya\u002F).",[323],{"tags_id":324},{"id":238,"name":239},[],{"id":327,"title":328,"slug":329,"image":330,"type":292,"date":331,"body":332,"language":7,"tags":333,"translations":334},10279,"Annual Report 2021: Defeating corruption for peace, prosperity, equality and dignity","annual-report-2021-defeating-corruption-for-peace-prosperity-equality-and-dignity-2227","8c8c9688-490d-4d9f-9bfc-7b926d87b830","2022-05-30","Foreword to our [Annual Report 2021](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2022-05\u002FAnnual%20Report%202021.pdf).\n\nWhen the year 2021 ended, we were cautiously breathing a sigh of relief. It seemed that the pandemic was starting to get under control in a growing number of countries, and that we could turn our full attention again to the other pandemic, corruption.\n\nLittle did we know that not even two months would pass until the world would be stunned by another earthquake. One that would fundamentally shake our belief in principles which are so central to our work, and indeed everyone’s life.\n\nOf course this is not the first time that international law and convention is trampled on, or that global governance seems to have lost its meaning. But wars are not something you compare or rank in levels of horror. War is always wrong.\n\nOur first and foremost hope is that the military aggression in Ukraine ceases, that the killing and destruction stops, and that Ukrainian territorial integrity is preserved. The impact of the war is of course felt worst in Ukraine, but also across the entire world. And as is so often the case, the most vulnerable societies suffer the most, be it from global food and energy insecurity, from redirected development aid, or from the impacts on geopolitical stability.\n\nImportantly, we cannot and should not ignore what this war is teaching us about corruption. It has never been more obvious that corruption is a fundamental threat to our societies, to national and international security, and to every citizen.\n\nCorruption is not “just” an illegal means to do business or beef up a public servant’s salary. Corruption is a strategic weapon, used to buy geopolitical influence, to capture entire economies and to subjugate people. This corruption is often very subtle, employed strategically over a prolonged period of time. The links between money and effect are often so convoluted and remote that they are hard to see or prove.\n\nIf so many people had to die, had to flee, had to lose everything they ever owned, in Ukraine and in the many other corruption-driven wars, at least let us make sure that the world finally wakes up to this reality and starts acting for good. No more wilful blindness or tacit complicity; no more impunity in exchange for trade or political loyalty; and no more dominance of national interests over global goods.\n\nAt the Basel Institute, we are more committed than ever to do our part in what must be a global war – the only war that is ever justified – against corruption. We count on you, our donors, our partners, to work with us and pass the message on: that defeating corruption is fundamental to achieving a world of peace, prosperity, equality and dignity.\n\n[Read the Annual Report 2021](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2022-05\u002FAnnual%20Report%202021.pdf)",[],[],{"id":336,"title":337,"slug":338,"image":339,"type":292,"date":340,"body":341,"language":7,"tags":342,"translations":343},9551,"Mozambique’s tuna bonds scandal: yes it’s about money, but more than that – it’s about human lives","mozambiques-tuna-bonds-scandal-yes-its-about-money-but-more-than-that-its-about-human-lives-2120","91082874-66fd-40b5-a71f-8ddfc352207a","2021-10-21","_The so-called “tuna bond” corruption scandal in Mozambique has drawn international attention. Twenty people are facing corruption and money laundering charges in the country. Swiss bank Credit Suisse has agreed to pay USD 475 million in fines and write off USD 200 million in debt owed by Mozambique as part of a series of settlements with regulators in the US, UK and Switzerland for its role in the affair._\n\n_Daniel Hofer of Swiss broadcaster SRF spoke to our Managing Director Gretta Fenner about the scandal on 20 October, shortly after the news of the Credit Suisse settlements was released._\n\n_See the [interview transcript in German on the SRF website](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.srf.ch\u002Fnews\u002Finternational\u002Fcs-kreditskandal-in-mosambik-es-geht-bei-den-skandalen-um-geld-aber-primaer-um-menschenleben) or (our own) English translation below:_\n\nMozambique’s Attorney General’s Office has declared war on corruption and sought help from Switzerland, from the Basel Institute on Governance. The non-governmental organisation advises authorities worldwide on how to take action against bribery and financial crime.\n\nAccording to Managing Director Greta Fenner, the scandal surrounding the Credit Suisse loans has not only had economic consequences for Mozambique.\n\n## SRF News: To whom did the Credit Suisse money ultimately go?\n\nGreta Fenner: The money went to very different parties. USD 200 million were lost in bank fees. Three former Credit Suisse employees have admitted to accepting bribes. It is assumed that a number of politicians and officials in Mozambique also took bribes.\n\nThe party that has probably profited most from this scandal and the illegally obtained funds is the company Privinvest. This is a shipbuilding company owned by a French-Lebanese billionaire who orchestrated this whole scenario.\n\n## What did this company do with the rest of the money?\n\nWe don’t have a full picture of this yet. An international audit report has shown that at least half a billion dollars is completely unaccounted for. And I have already mentioned the bank fees and the bribes.\n\nSome money was indeed used to buy ships and other things related to the investment project.  However, the ships were never used and are rotting away in Mozambique’s ports. Also, they were not bought at normal prices but at hugely inflated prices.\n\n## This was a devastating affair for Mozambique. What are the consequences for the economy?\n\nThe promised benefits for Mozambique were not realised at all. There was no added value. Instead, a huge mountain of debt was created. A recent report calculated that the cost so far is about USD 11 billion. This is equivalent to the country's entire gross domestic product of 2016.\n\nThe economic consequences will cost many people their lives, or already have.\n\nThe same report has also found that over two million people have been pushed into poverty – and that’s in a situation where the country is already struggling with the coronavirus crisis, with catastrophic natural disasters and with terrorism.\n\nIt is important to understand that these scandals are of course at first sight about money, but more importantly they cost many people their lives. And very sadly, nobody is ever held accountable for these lives.\n\n## So there have been no consequences for the political leaders so far?\n\nIn Mozambique, there are currently criminal proceedings against 20 suspects. They are accused of various crimes: money laundering, taking bribes, abuse of office, etc. The case is still ongoing.\n\nWhat’s interesting is that these are completely public and are permanently broadcast on radio and television. People on the street are constantly talking about it. That is positive. One can hope that this publicity will lead to a reasonably clean trial.\n\nBut there are also those that raise doubts as to whether all those responsible are actually in the dock. That will probably never be conclusively clarified.\n\n> ### Background: Credit Suisse and the Mozambique case\n> \n> In 2013, Credit Suisse organised USD 1 billion in loans for two Mozambican state-owned companies. The money was intended to buy ships for the coastguard and for tuna fishing. But part of the money flowed into private pockets. Money was laundered and bank employees, public officials and politicians took bribes.\n> \n> The deals were done through the British subsidiary of Credit Suisse, bypassing the head office in Zurich. This should no longer be possible in the future, as the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has demanded that henceforward, the group's top management must check transactions like these itself.\n> \n> For the time being, Credit Suisse must also disclose all new credit transactions with economically weak countries. The British financial supervisory authority and the US judiciary also had their sights set on Credit Suisse because of Mozambique. In a settlement, Credit Suisse has now accepted to pay a fine of USD 475 million. In addition, it must write off debts owed by the country to the tune of USD 200 million.",[],[],{"id":345,"title":346,"slug":347,"image":348,"type":292,"date":349,"body":350,"language":7,"tags":351,"translations":352},9572,"Annual Report 2020: On fighting the pandemic of corruption","annual-report-2020-on-fighting-the-pandemic-of-corruption-2071","191b6cd3-28c7-4b7d-b21b-ef0cec06cdae","2021-08-13","Published today, our [Annual Report](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fannual-report-2020) celebrates the achievements of our teams and partners around the world that we are most proud of in 2020. It also reveals some of the hurdles we were challenged to overcome together. There are many of both, and a lot more stories and highlights in between. \n\nThis year's report offers deep dives into some of our key focus areas.\n\n*   Our International Centre for Asset Recovery explains why we are supporting the use of non-conviction based forfeiture mechanisms to recover stolen assets, why our training team has launched a new open course on cryptocurrencies and AML compliance, and how Mozambique established a new Asset Recovery Office with our support.\n*   Meanwhile, our Public Governance team reveals why networks, not just individuals, are crucial to understanding and countering corruption.\n*   The report sets out the new strategy we have launched to address Green Corruption – the corruption and other financial crimes that drive environmental degradation. The popularity of our Corrupting the Environment webinar series, which we are offering together with the OECD, has demonstrated the breadth and depth of interest in this field. \n*   In the contributions from our Compliance and Collective Action teams on their work with the private sector, we explore how state-owned enterprises can address their corruption and antitrust risks. We also illustrate efforts to create guidance on reporting on the effectiveness of anti-corruption compliance programmes, with the example of a Collective Action initiative between healthcare companies.\n*   In Peru, our 30+ Public Finance Management specialists are breaking new ground with their innovative training approach, using social media and peer-to-peer learning.\n*   We also look at what the Basel AML Index revealed about money laundering trends in 2020, the role of virtual training beyond the pandemic thanks to our new Basel LEARN virtual learning platform, and how lockdown opened up fresh opportunities to maximise the potential of open-source intelligence, including through our Basel Open Intelligence search tool.\n\nThroughout the Annual Report, it is clear that our achievements depend greatly on the efforts of our partners and donors. And so this is also a chance for us to thank them warmly and to demonstrate some of the impact we are having together on the fight against corruption around the world.\n\nPlease flick through and stop to read, to think and to send us your ideas and insights – by email, over social media or in any other way.\n\n## Foreword\n\n\"We must revive the global social contract to fight the pandemic of corruption\" begins the foreword by Gretta Fenner, Managing Director, and Mark Pieth, President of the Board. They continue:\n\n> While medical research has been quick to develop protection against Covid-19, another pandemic continues to rampage humankind and our attempts at stopping it continue to fall short.\n> \n> We are talking about the widespread disease of corruption, which has become deeply rooted in our societies, and which plagues our communities, their social cohesion and economic wellbeing. It leaps effortlessly between public officials and businesses regardless of political colour, nationality or sector, helped by professional middlemen and rule-free blind spots where dirty money can go on holiday.\n> \n> This has never been more apparent than when the two pandemics met. Initial research seems to indicate that corruption levels rose to even higher levels during the pandemic. It might also be that seeing its deadly consequences from closer quarters made it more visible.\n> \n> What is certain is that more people are seeing through the corruption fog. Political protests and toppled governments around the world show that more people are upset about it, and that is a good development. Those of us who work in the light can only fight a threat that is seen.\n> \n> The ophthalmologists in this case are the many individuals, the journalists, civil society activists, researchers and law enforcement officials who, courageously and often at great risk, are standing up to corruption and dragging it into the daylight. This is a tremendous help for our work, and we hope that our effort helps them.\n> \n> But many of these anti-corruption heroes still fight a lonely battle. What’s more, they are faced with the overwhelming resources and power of the grand transnational corrupt networks that, collectively, stifle sustainable development and undermine the economic and social wellbeing of our societies.\n> \n> To amplify the work of the many courageous people and organisations, nation states, global enterprises and governance bodies should be coming together. But instead, what we see and what is of major concern is an increasing breakdown of global solidarity and a return of increasingly divisive and at best nationalistic domestic and global politics.\n> \n> So we urge politicians and business leaders to revitalise the global social contract – which is competently guided by the Sustainable Development Goals – by showing true and courageous leadership that disregards geographical, social, economic or other borders.\n> \n> But before we are misinterpreted: We are not waiting for another global leaders’ declaration; there are plenty of those. We are waiting for these key stakeholders to really do what they preach. And in doing so, to ask more of themselves and of each other than ever before. This means not just meeting but going beyond the requirements of international treaties and standards.\n> \n> Those who risk their lives to fight corruption, and those who lose their lives because of corruption, every day, in every corner of the world, deserve at least that.\n> \n> So, as we rightly celebrate the healthcare workers and other providers of essential services that are helping their fellow citizens get through the Covid-19 pandemic, let us also celebrate – and actively support – those individuals who resist, stand up and fight against corruption.\n> \n> We have done our best to do just that throughout last year, and we will continue on this mission, hopefully with more backing from true leadership, for the good of everyone in this world.\n\n[Download our Annual Report 2020](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fannual-report-2020)",[],[],{"id":354,"title":355,"slug":356,"image":357,"type":292,"date":358,"body":359,"language":7,"tags":360,"translations":361},9591,"A make-or-break moment: Gretta Fenner urges Ukrainian political leaders to speed up asset recovery and remove obstacles to combating corruption","a-make-or-break-moment-gretta-fenner-urges-ukrainian-political-leaders-to-speed-up-asset-recovery-and-remove-obstacles-to-combating-corruption-2037","f1b29718-67be-4a3a-bd71-56f23ad6e9ce","2021-06-23","At a high-profile speech at the [Ukraine 30 Forum](https:\u002F\u002Fukraine30.com\u002Fen\u002F) 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.\n\nInitiated by President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2021, the Ukraine 30 Forum is a platform for discussion between the public and private sectors, civil society and other experts in the run-up to Ukraine's 30th anniversary of independence on 24 August 2021. Since February, the forum has tackled a range of critical topics including coronavirus, the justice system, education, digitalisation and national security.\n\nGretta spoke immediately after President Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on 15 June, on the second day of the Forum's special session on \"An economy without oligarchs\". Her full speech is below in English and can be viewed on YouTube [here in Ukrainian](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=jr1LfKWhNIY&t=76s) and [here in English](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=cFe7ydSCu24) (starting at minute 30:30).\n\n> Mr President\n> \n> Prime Minister\n> \n> Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen\n> \n> And most importantly: Dear friends from Ukraine\n> \n> It is a privilege to speak to you this morning and to be part of Forum 30 which leads up to the celebration of 30 years of independence of Ukraine in August.\n> \n> I am sorry I cannot be with you in Kyiv today, especially as I was in your beautiful capital just last week. But let’s come to the topic of today: Corruption and asset recovery. Talking of these topics in the context of celebrating your country’s independence is very pertinent, because independence and the fight against corruption are closely entwined.\n> \n> *   If a country is captured by vested interests and corrupt crime groups, then democracy is at stake, and I believe you would all agree that democracy has been the goal of Ukraine’s independence.\n> *   Second, it is crucial that anti-corruption institutions can act independently. If they are at risk of undue political or economic interference, they lose their ability to effectively combat corruption. \n> *   Third, when grand corruption is widely present, criminals steal large amounts of public assets. As a result the country lacks resources to invest in important public services and infrastructure. The country and its people are impoverished, and they become dependent on foreign aid.\n> \n> Reducing corruption and getting stolen assets back is important for Ukraine because the country urgently needs this money to build schools, hospitals, roads, and to invest in job creation.\n> \n> But it is important for another reason too: Asset recovery is considered a particularly powerful weapon against corruption. And when I say corruption here, I mean _grand_ corruption, the kind that siphons of millions and billions from your country.\n> \n> If law enforcement is successful in depriving criminals of their stolen assets, the crime of corruption is all of a sudden much less attractive. And while it is important to put corrupt people in prison when found guilty, it hurts them a lot more if you also take their money away.\n> \n> The efforts of Ukraine since 2014 to recover stolen assets are therefore very important from both a social and economic development perspective, and from a criminal justice perspective.\n> \n> My organisation, the Basel Institute on Governance, has had the privilege of supporting Ukraine in its efforts to recover stolen assets since 2014, when very shortly after the Revolution of Dignity, the Office of the Prosecutor General asked us to assist with finding and recovering the money that was stolen by former President Yanukovych and his allies. This cooperation was reinforced with the signing, last year at the occasion of the visit to Ukraine of then Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga, of a [tripartite agreement](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Ftripartite-agreement-brings-fresh-potential-fight-against-corruption-ukraine) between Switzerland, the Office of the Prosecutor General and NABU, underscoring the cooperation of Switzerland, Ukraine and my organisation to recover stolen assets.\n> \n> Since 2014, Ukraine has recorded progress, but the progress has sometimes been slower than we would hope.\n> \n> The first very positive development immediately after the Revolution of Dignity was the international reaction. Switzerland, which by the way finances our work in Ukraine, the European Union and other important jurisdictions, have immediately frozen assets suspected of having been stolen by the regime of former President Yanukovych. The intention of this international action to freeze these assets was to give Ukraine time to investigate the underlying crimes, to prove that the money stems from corruption, and ultimately to confiscate it so that it can be returned to Ukraine.\n> \n> But these freeze orders are not open-ended. And foreign countries cannot return the money to Ukraine without the help of Ukraine. Through our work, we were able to help advance the cooperation between Ukraine and the countries where assets have been frozen. These countries have provided Ukraine with information about the bank accounts and with other evidence.\n> \n> But now the ball is largely in Ukraine’s camp. It’s the Ukrainian institutions that need to finish investigating and then prosecute the cases, and the Courts that need to confirm the criminal origin of these assets. Only then can the other countries release the funds and the money can be returned to Ukraine. And with that money, schools can be built, or roads, or hospitals.\n> \n> Time is of the essence now; we may have another two or three years until most freezes will expire. That means that Ukrainian institutions have to work at full speed, and have to be allowed to do so, so that we can see successful prosecutions and confiscations in Ukrainian Courts.\n> \n> For this, Ukraine does have the necessary institutions, and this is another positive development that has happened since the Revolution of Dignity. In addition to the OPG, these include, as you know well, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, two institutions with which we work closely and who are very important for this country. There is also ARMA and the National Agency for Corruption Prevention, and the State Bureau for Investigations. In this context I am particularly pleased to confirm that we have just signed a cooperation agreement with SBI last week when I was in Kyiv. And of course, very important, the High Anti-Corruption Court.\n> \n> These institutions are all very important, but they have an incredibly difficult job. Investigating cases of grand corruption is extremely challenging; expertise in the field of asset recovery is very rare; and the criminals are using their still vast resources to pay for some of the most experienced defence attorneys to make the job of NABU, SBI or OPG ever more difficult.\n> \n> On top of that, it has been hard to watch how over the years, a whole range of home-grown obstacles was put in the way of these critical institutions and how they continue to suffer greatly from instability brought to them from the outside:\n> \n> In the seven years that we have been supporting Ukraine, we have worked with five Prosecutors General, some of which were more, some less reform oriented. This is a real problem for the stability of this key institution, and has at times definitely had a negative impact on its performance.\n> \n> Adding to this problem is the fact that key anti-corruption institutions have not had a chief for a prolonged period. The positions of Heads of SAPO, of ARMA and of SBI have been vacant for far too long, and the selection process for Head of SAPO is in serious trouble. This is not to suggest that the Acting Heads of these institutions are not doing a good job; they are doing a very good job in many cases. But it adds to the instability, and it puts into question the will of some to enable these institutions to be effective. \n> \n> And last but not least, as you know, there have been something like 18 attempts to remove the current Director of NABU from his position. And nobody will make me believe that this is because he is so bad at his job; rather, I would argue it is because he is a threat to those who have reason to fear him and NABU.\n> \n> In addition to that, we have had one backlash after the other when it comes to reforming Ukraine’s legislative framework.\n> \n> *   The decision by the Constitutional Court to rescind the asset declaration law is very problematic for example.\n> *   The law on illicit enrichment, which was passed in Parliament just recently, is a poor replacement for the previous law. It has serious weaknesses, as confirmed by the Venice Commission, and it will make it extremely hard for investigators and prosecutors in their efforts to stem out corruption.\n> *   And finally, ample evidence of serious corruption in the Ukrainian Court system may well be the final straw to Ukraine’s efforts to recover the billions of hryvnia that have been stolen, stolen from Ukraine, stolen from the people of Ukraine.\n> \n> So this is a make or break moment. If we are not successful in recovering these stolen assets, then people will lose patience, they will lose hope, and they will lose trust in this country’s institutions, again. Because it will seem to people that the corrupt continue to get away with their crime. And it can seem like an invitation to others to also steal.\n> \n> Corruption may seem only one of the many problems this country has to grapple with. But you should remember that corruption is at the heart of pretty much any other problem you are facing. Corruption fuels conflict and is known as a serious threat to national security; corruption fuels organised crime; corruption destroys the health system; corruption leads to poor education; corruption leads to poverty. It is no exaggeration when we say that in many ways, corruption kills.\n> \n> Mr President, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen. This is a critical time.\n> \n> The international community, and my institution included, continues to support you in your efforts to fight corruption and recover stolen assets. But we must see sincere effort in Ukraine; we must see that there is an end to the undermining of the independence of key institutions; we must see these institutions with strong leadership; we must urgently re-instil independence, impartiality and professionalism in the Court system; and we must pass legislation that is up to international standards and that can work, not legislation that undermines the anti-corruption drive.\n> \n> This is what we hope to see from the politicians in this country, and I sincerely hope that they will show that they have the best interests of the country – and of the Ukrainian people – at heart. I trust and know that you do, Mr President, Prime Minister.\n> \n> We are here to help, and together with our partners in NABU, at OPG and at SBI, with our partners in Switzerland and across the world, we will continue to stand by your country’s side to end impunity for corruption and hopefully return many of the stolen assets to Ukraine, so they can be used for the benefit of the people of Ukraine.\n> \n> I thank you.",[],[],{"id":363,"title":364,"slug":365,"image":366,"type":292,"date":367,"body":368,"language":7,"tags":369,"translations":370},9596,"Gretta Fenner's address at the UNGASS 2021 plenary session","gretta-fenners-address-at-the-ungass-2021-plenary-session-2026","330de557-dbbe-4df8-a655-5d577e5c3ea9","2021-06-04","_The following statement by the Basel Institute's Managing Director, Gretta Fenner, was aired at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly against Corruption on 4 June 2021. [Watch the video here](https:\u002F\u002Fyoutu.be\u002F3aF-4HgycYg)._\n\nExcellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,\n\nI thank you for the opportunity to deliver a short statement on behalf of the Basel Institute on Governance.\n\nWe welcome the political declaration as a text that provides useful guidance. In particular, we welcome those parts of the text that go beyond previously agreed language, many of which reflect the recommendations that our organisation has made in the context of the consultation process.\n\nAmong those, we in particular welcome that paragraph 11 calls upon member states to go beyond the minimum in relation to criminalisation, with a special reference to illicit enrichment, and the paragraphs that encourage states to adopt regimes for both conviction and non-conviction based confiscation.\n\nWe are encouraged that the political declaration recognises that states do not yet live up to their commitment to afford each other the widest measure of cooperation when it comes to investigating corruption and recovering stolen assets. In many countries international cooperation remains burdened by unnecessary bureaucracy and sometimes procedural law that would appear to be biased in favour of the defence. \n\nWe are also encouraged that member states in paragraph 6 have endorsed the notion of Collective Action as an important emerging norm in corruption prevention.\n\nFinally, we are gratified that the declaration refers strongly to the importance of independent law enforcement and the critical role played by non-state actors.\n\nThe gist of this document gives thus reason for hope. But the reality is that on most days, the fight against corruption still feels like a very steep uphill battle. The levels of corruption remain incredibly high, and not a single country is spared.\n\nOf course in parts this is the consequence of positive developments. The media and civil society as well as bolder law enforcement action have helped us to see corruption better, and to understand its consequences better. More people are upset about it.\n\nAnd we should celebrate these successes, and in particular the many courageous individuals, in law enforcement, in the media and ordinary people who resist, who stand up and protest; many of them at great personal sacrifice.\n\nBut corruption is a very resilient and adaptive disease. We are no longer (only) dealing with the kind of corruption that involves stealing from state coffers or paying someone off. This means purely legal and technical solutions are just not enough. We must understand the political economy of corruption, and we must invest in education so that still more people are able to see through the corruption fog.\n\nSecond, corruption has become even more globalised. It is a spiderweb connecting politicians and businesses regardless of political colour or nationality, aided by nifty middlemen and the still many blind spots on the world map.\n\nThis stands in stark contrast with the increasing break-down of global solidarity and governance, marked by misguided references to national sovereignty and masked by the excuse of bureaucracy. It makes it virtually impossible for law enforcement to stand a chance. The criminals are laughing; we make it so easy for them.\n\nSo we must ask more of you, and you must ask more of each other.\n\nFirst, we ask that you truly endorse the strong language encouraging countries to go beyond the mere minimum. Don’t be held back because others may not go as far as you want to. Show true leadership, not comparative leadership.\n\nSecond, please, for once, be ready to be fully accountable. For the fight against corruption to succeed we need a lot, but what we don’t need is another political statement that is not followed through. So I call upon you all to allow for full and public scrutiny of what you will do to implement the commitments made today. \n\nThose who risk their lives to fight corruption, those who lose their lives because of corruption, every day, in every corner of the world, they deserve that.\n\nI thank you.",[],[],{"id":372,"title":373,"slug":374,"image":375,"type":292,"date":376,"body":377,"language":7,"tags":378,"translations":379},9678,"What the FinCEN leaks reveal about systems to fight financial crime – BBC interview with Gretta Fenner","what-the-fincen-leaks-reveal-about-systems-to-fight-financial-crime-bbc-interview-with-gretta-fenner-1866","a024d3a4-5487-427a-be0c-d8cb33d051cb","2020-09-22","In an interview with BBC journalist Razia Iqbal on Newshour on 21 September, the Basel Institute’s Managing Director Gretta Fenner gave her perspective on the unfolding [FinCEN Files story](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bbc.com\u002Fnews\u002Fuk-54226107). Here is a brief summary.\n\nThe story does not come as a surprise to those of us in the anti-corruption community, she said. But it’s too easy to simply blame the banks for “allowing” money laundering to take place. This means ignoring 50 percent of the problem. We must also talk about the shortcomings in the current regulatory and supervisory framework. We must also acknowledge that the problems FinCEN Leaks reveals are not new. A blame game will not solve them; only courageous and committed action will.\n\n## The role of Financial Intelligence Units\n\nToday most financial institutions invest large amounts of resources in transaction monitoring and customer due diligence in an effort to comply with anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML\u002FCFT) regulations. If they flag suspicious activity, they are obliged to submit a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to the relevant Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). FinCEN, from where the leaked files emanate, serves as the FIU in the United States.\n\nFIUs are responsible for assessing the report and deciding whether any further action is needed, such as compiling a dossier and escalating it for further investigation by law enforcement.\n\n## A tension – no easy option\n\nA number of media reports about the FinCEN leaks gave the impression that it is up to the banks to decide what to do once a SAR is filed. This is a wrong perception. What happens once a SAR is filed is defined by law. But the laws vary from one country to another.\n\nThe most challenging question in this context is whether the law should instruct the bank to proceed with the transaction while the SAR is being assessed, or to freeze the assets (and for how long?) during this process. Financial institutions and regulatory authorities have debated this matter for decades.\n\nThe tension comes from risks inherent in both options. If you block a transaction or freeze a bank account, you risk tipping off the suspect. If you continue business as usual while the transaction is assessed, you risk that the money disappears, perhaps transferred into a non-cooperative jurisdiction where it’s impossible to find it again.\n\n## Capacity gaps in FIUs and enforcement\n\nPublic frustration about the banks’ behaviour is understandable. But it should be met with equal frustration about systems failures on the public side.\n\nWhile requirements for transaction monitoring and customer due diligence are increasing, leading to a growing number of SARs being filed, many FIUs do not have the necessary resources, tools and procedures to meaningfully and swiftly analyse reports. This makes the money laundering prevention and detection system a hit and miss game.\n\n## A way forward\n\nAn important part of the solution is to focus more on risks than on quantity. In other words, FIUs should increase their capacity to conduct strategic analysis of SARs so that both reporting and analysis focuses on major risks instead of just producing more and more data.\n\nFinancial institutions, FIUs and law enforcement must also explore other ways of sharing intelligence in a timely, proactive and strategic manner.\n\nBoth of these require reporting entities, FIUs and regulators to develop a joint vision instead of falling prey to the pointless blame game. FinCEN leaks must be used as a trigger for serious dialogue around how to overhaul the prevention and detection system and the processes around them.\n\nAt the end of the day we all want the same outcome: a more strategic, powerful and swifter way for banks and other reporting entities, FIUs and law enforcement to work together to stop financial crime.\n\n## More\n\n*   Listen to the interview [here on BBC Sounds](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bbc.co.uk\u002Fsounds\u002Fplay\u002Fw172x2ywy51y2kc) (available until 19 October). The story starts at minute 14:00, and the interview with Gretta Fenner at 17:30.\n*   The latest edition of the [Basel AML Index](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fbasel-aml-index), which measures the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing around the world, highlights systemic failings in the quality of AML supervision. This is another part of the story of why AML\u002FCFT systems are not working.\n*   In our [quick guide to the role of FIUs in asset recovery](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fthierry-ravalomandas-quick-guide-role-fius-asset-recovery), Senior Asset Recovery Specialist Thierry Ravalomanda gives a brief overview of the different types of FIUs and how they support anti-corruption and asset recovery efforts. It’s available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.",[],[],{"id":381,"title":382,"slug":383,"image":384,"type":292,"date":385,"body":386,"language":7,"tags":387,"translations":388},9695,"Corruption risks and remedies in a crisis – insights from an ADB webinar ","corruption-risks-and-remedies-in-a-crisis-insights-from-an-adb-webinar-1834","bf4ebce1-84cb-4fff-8e4b-b90cc59780b1","2020-08-04","Where corruption is already rampant, a crisis makes it worse. There are flash floods of relief money landing in contexts where power is imbalanced, governance is weak and criminals already know how to game the system. But we can fight back by making anti-corruption an integral part of crisis relief efforts. Like emergencies in the past, the covid-19 pandemic demonstrates that anti-corruption is not just a nice-to-have but can really save lives.\n\nThis was the gist of a recent presentation I gave at an Innovation Speakers' Series webinar on [Fighting Corruption at a Time of Crisis](https:\u002F\u002Fevents.development.asia\u002Flearning-events\u002Finnovation-speakers-series-fighting-corruption-time-crisis) organised by the Asian Development Bank (ADB)'s Office of Anticorruption and Integrity and Department of Sustainable Development and Climate Change.\n\nThe [webinar recording is online](https:\u002F\u002Fevents.development.asia\u002Flearning-events\u002Finnovation-speakers-series-fighting-corruption-time-crisis) and the presentations by myself and my co-presenter Kelly Bird, Country Director of ADB Philippines, are available [here](https:\u002F\u002Fevents.development.asia\u002Fmaterials\u002F20200630\u002Ffighting-corruption-time-crisis). But since I know that snatching an hour to watch a recorded webinar is a luxury most of us do not have, I thought I’d briefly set out some of the crisis-related corruption risks and approaches I spoke about.\n\nSome of the insights are based on my experience as former Programme Manager for the ADB\u002FOECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific, where immediately following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami we brought together governments, the private sector and civil society to discuss how to curb corruption risks while dealing with the crisis. Other insights are drawn from the Basel Institute’s current work with governments across Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America in tackling corruption and recovering stolen assets.\n\n## The world’s most transparent donor\n\nFirst, my congratulations to the Asian Development Bank for once again being named the [most transparent donor organisation in the world](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.adb.org\u002Fnews\u002Fadb-retains-top-spot-aid-transparency-index-development-organizations). Beyond the accolade, this kind of achievement is already a first step in making sure that crisis relief operations are handled with great integrity.\n\nIn a natural disaster or health emergency, organisations like the ADB give large amounts of money very quickly to countries with poor governance frameworks and existing high risks of corruption. And few criminals let such an opportunity go to waste. Where systems for embezzling money from aid funds and loans exist, the emergency situation just opens the door wider. Transparency in turn opens the door to more scrutiny, and thus is a first line of defence against those who want to make a profit on the back of a crisis.\n\nWhen it comes to what donors can do, coordination is another key word. During the Indian Ocean tsunami, we saw hundreds of small donors and organisations flooding in to help. This was all very welcome and well-intended, but again criminals knew how to turn a well-intended flurry of activity to their advantage. When nobody really knows where the money is coming from and where it's going, it’s hard to know that something is missing.\n\n## Politics and power imbalances\n\nPower matters, I wrote on my first slide. What that means is that the _imbalance_ of power can – and will - be misused to misallocate funds. When people are poor and perhaps not very literate or used to speaking up against authorities, they are hugely exposed to being the conduit to misuse of funds. If such a person is entitled to $150 in relief money and only gets $100, what can they do? And that is if they even knew they should get $150.\n\nInformation is key to create or correct power imbalances. So, again, transparency is essential, as is information. But note that information must be in a form that can be understood by those people who are targeted. This necessitates a varied approach and an understanding of local context, details which easily get lost in the middle of a crisis.\n\nIn a similar vein, politics needs to react calmly or else will make matters worse. In a situation of crisis, politicians are under pressure to act fast, to get money to the people and places that need it and show voters that they are looking after them. But erratic actions create more damage than good. So slowing down just a little bit might help save more lives than when money is dished out without the necessary controls.  \n\n## No need to look hard to see the risks\n\nIt’s not hard to see the risks (and real cases) of covid-related embezzlement and price inflation, because they existed before.\n\nPeople who have already stolen from procurement systems know very well how to do it, and of course find it easier when there is more money and fewer checks. Large informal economies and low penetration of formal banking also mean more risky transfers of cash and mobile money. (On this, read my colleague Andrew Dornbierer’s recent [quick guide to mobile money and financial crime](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fandrew-dornbierers-quick-guide-mobile-money-and-financial-crimes).)\n\nA risk that is less discussed is the impact on anti-corruption action. Some of our partners have reported how lockdowns basically halted investigations and judicial proceedings, as well as reform processes. Others fear that the economic downturn resulting from covid-19 and the need for fast cash for emergency relief can be an excuse to cut budgets for already squeezed anti-corruption institutions and programmes. Our International Centre for Asset Recovery team debated some of these issues [here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fasset-recovery-light-covid-19-five-questions-open-debate).\n\n## From risks to hopes\n\nGiving up in the face of so many risks is however not an option when lives are at stake. There is a lot we can do and it might even turn the crisis into an opportunity.\n\nFirst, the lockdowns can trigger progress in implementing e-procurement and rapid procurement vetting systems, plus long overdue investments in other technology. Some countries are allowing virtual court hearings and video-taped witness statements for the first time, saving time and money in the process. Locked-down investigators are discovering the rich pool of open-source intelligence available on the internet (allow me to mention our [Basel Open Intelligence](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fbasel-open-intelligence) tool here) and the flexibility of [eLearning](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Felearning-courses) courses. We’ve had good experiences [combining eLearning with virtual instructor-led training](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fadvanced-operational-analysis-training-kenya-gets-multiple-agencies-working-together-around) that we hope to carry forward into post-covid times.\n\nSecond, citizen awareness is more crucial than ever. We have been supporting journalists to help them conduct intelligent, constructive reporting on covid-related risks and corruption cases. Citizen complaints and corruption reporting mechanisms like [Kenya’s anonymous whistleblowing system](https:\u002F\u002Feacc.go.ke\u002Fdefault\u002Freport-corruption\u002F) or [Ukraine’s Business Ombudsman Council](https:\u002F\u002Fboi.org.ua\u002Fen\u002F) can also play a huge role.\n\nThird, Kenya has triggered an important debate about the use of recovered stolen assets to support the covid-19 emergency response. Early in the pandemic, our partners at Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions [presented the National Treasury with a cheque for 2 billion Kenyan shillings](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Ffeed\u002Fupdate\u002Furn:li:activity:6653285041289863171\u002F) for use in covid-19 relief. The pandemic emergency can concentrate the minds of those who are in charge of determining the use of recovered assets. And maybe this situation has made it clear: When assets are stolen, they are stolen from the people. When they come back, they should go back to the people.\n\nThe parallel is obvious: When corruption occurs in times of crisis it means lives are at stake. The deadly impact of corruption on people has never been more blatantly obvious; and suddenly corruption and money laundering are not (only) technical matters for specialists anymore. And effective corruption prevention and enforcement becomes an essential service much more than a well-sounding political commitment at times of elections.\n\nWe need to make sure that anti-corruption actors do not suffer from the crisis but, if anything, their work is given the budgetary boost and political support it requires, in or after a crisis.",[],[],{"id":390,"title":391,"slug":392,"image":393,"type":292,"date":394,"body":395,"language":7,"tags":396,"translations":397},9715,"How asset recovery can support the fight against wildlife trafficking","how-asset-recovery-can-support-the-fight-against-wildlife-trafficking-1789","4255df79-6c59-4dd6-acb9-ab2d5b25a63f","2020-06-30","In the third article in our series of perspectives on illegal wildlife trade (IWT) and financial crime, produced in collaboration with the [International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.financialcrimelitigators.org\u002F), Gretta Fenner explores the role of asset recovery in combating wildlife trafficking.\n\nShe asks: Should assets recovered from corrupt practices linked to wildlife trafficking be channelled into conservation and counter-IWT enforcement efforts? What are the pros and cons, and have there been any examples of this type of strategy?\n\nGretta Fenner is a Founding Fellow of the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators and the Basel Institute acts as its Secretariat.\n\nCan asset recovery support the fight against illegal wildlife trade?\n====================================================================\n\n## The short answer: yes\n\nIt seems fair to use assets recovered from convicted criminals to benefit the victims of their crimes. This helps make up for the damage they suffered. It also makes sense to use recovered assets to prevent similar crimes from occurring in the future.\n\nSo yes, assets recovered from corrupt practices linked to wildlife trafficking should in many cases – though of course not all – be channeled into conservation and counter-IWT enforcement efforts.\n\n## Putting recovered funds to good use\n\nThere are precedents in other areas of asset recovery. For example, money stolen from Peru and recovered from bank accounts in Luxembourg and Switzerland is now being used to strengthen Peru’s asset recovery system. That stolen money is paying for investments in electronic case management systems and in building a strong asset recovery team – both of which will help the country investigate and prosecute cases of grand corruption in the future.\n\nTranslated into the world of illegal wildlife trade (IWT), this means using recovered assets to empower IWT enforcement agencies. We would put a strong emphasis not only on anti-poaching measures but on developing their financial investigation skills and ability to bring money laundering cases against the highest-level traffickers and facilitators. Hitting these criminals where it hurts most – in their finances – is a [powerful tool to interrupt illegal trade](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fgretta-fenners-quick-guide-financial-crime-illegal-wildlife-trade).\n\n## Stolen assets for sustainable development\n\nRecovered assets could also be used to invest in socio-economic development of communities exposed to IWT. For example, building tourism and agricultural infrastructure in these areas will give more poachers a viable and legitimate way to provide for their families – because as our research team is uncovering, the [reasons why people turn to poaching and trafficking](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fsaba-kassas-quick-guide-drivers-and-facilitators-wildlife-trafficking) are not as simple as they seem.\n\nIn any case, it is critical that recovered assets from IWT or other crimes don’t just disappear into the black hole of public coffers. They should be used in such a way that people see a tangible value in fighting the crime both on the ground and in the financial sphere, where the high-level criminals and corrupt actors lurk.\n\n_To view the alternative perspective on this topic by_ _Keith Oliver, Head of International at Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP together with his colleague Amalia Neenan, Legal Researcher,_ _see [The Academy's website](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.financialcrimelitigators.org\u002Fnode\u002F156) or [download the PDF](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2020-06\u002FPerspectives3_AssetRecoveryandIWT.pdf)._ _Keith Oliver is a Founding Fellow of The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators._",[],[],{"id":399,"title":400,"slug":401,"image":402,"type":292,"date":403,"body":404,"language":7,"tags":405,"translations":406},9740,"Our Annual Report 2019: looking back, but mostly forward","our-annual-report-2019-looking-back-but-mostly-forward-1747","fbcf85c1-981c-4bb2-8107-c4a6bde291e6","2020-05-17","We are delighted to release our Annual Report 2019 – [view it here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2020-05\u002FBasel%20Institute%20Annual%20Report%202019.pdf).\n\nThe report highlights our achievements in the past year, but it also looks forward to the future. It is a chance to reflect on how corruption and governance are changing around the world and how we are adapting to new challenges. It is also a chance to thank, once again, our partners and donors for their unwavering support. \n\nHere is the foreword by Managing Director Gretta Fenner and President of the Board Mark Pieth.\n\n## Corruption and poor governance: enemies of the people\n\nAs we write this note for our annual report, the world has become a different place. A global pandemic is spreading fast, globalisation has come to a virtual standstill, and almost everything we took for granted is no longer a given.\n\nWe have been warned. Not specifically about covid-19, but about the risk of a global pandemic. Yet in many countries we see that structures are not in place and warnings have been ignored for too long. As we are still grappling to understand what is happening, one cannot help but ask, whether governance systems have failed us.\n\nWhen essential services are deprived of funding because it does not fit the political agenda of those in charge, this points to distorted governance systems that fail to set the right priorities for the public good. And can we really disregard the role corruption has played in fuelling this crisis? No, we cannot. It is clear that public officials have received grease payments to turn a blind eye to illegal trade in endangered species and disregard sub-standard hygiene in markets from where the  virus has seemingly spread.\n\nFighting corruption and strengthening governance may not be at the top of most officials’ priority lists right now as they are busy trying to control the spread of the virus and keep mortality levels low. But when we take a step back and have more space to reflect on underlying causes, we will have a terrible re-awakening to the realisation that corruption and bad governance are devastating our world and our lives.\n\nThat’s why at the Basel Institute, we see our mission of combating corruption and strengthening governance not as a cause in itself. Instead, we see it as our contribution to sustainable development, equitable growth, stability, respect for human rights and peace.\n\nOur team has worked hard again in 2019 to make inroads toward these overarching global goals. We are proud of our achievements, and acutely aware how our work interplays with the work of many others, be it in anti-corruption and governance or in other fields. This includes health, where corruption and weak governance compromise the achievement of better development outcomes. \n\nOur partnerships with governments, the private sector, other international organisations and civil society are critical. The covid-19 crisis has shown us like nothing else that we need to come together to go forward.\n\nWe hope that the work we describe in our annual report inspires you. By now, when we write this foreword, we know only too well what topic will dominate the year 2020. We sincerely hope to make a contribution to fighting the root causes of this pandemic, so that we may come out of this tragic crisis not only with losses, but also with a new understanding of our global responsibilities, individually and collectively.\n\n[Download the annual report here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2020-05\u002FBasel%20Institute%20Annual%20Report%202019.pdf).",[],[],{"id":408,"title":409,"slug":410,"image":411,"type":292,"date":412,"body":413,"language":7,"tags":414,"translations":417},9741,"How to curb corruption in natural disaster situations – and pandemics","how-to-curb-corruption-in-natural-disaster-situations-and-pandemics-1746","0a12b824-f998-4272-9b50-693b8a479972","2020-05-11","Last week’s blog about [corruption risks in natural disaster situations](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fcorruption-natural-disaster-situations-can-our-experiences-help-prevent-corruption-related) triggered some interesting feedback. Many observers are seeing the same as I am in the international response to the covid-19 pandemic – namely, that there are striking similarities with the response to earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters in the past.\n\nOf course, there are important differences too. A natural disaster is much more localised than a global pandemic, and the disruption is of a different sort. Nevertheless, I believe the seven recommendations my co-author and I put forward in our book chapter are relevant for practitioners and policymakers weighing up different approaches to corruption risks in the covid-19 response.\n\nNone are as straightforward as they sound below – is there anything simple in anti-corruption? – but I hope they inspire efforts to do as much as possible in these areas.\n\nYou can find the full recommendations and references in our original chapter [here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fcurbing-risks-and-opportunities-corruption-natural-disaster-situations). It was published in 2009 in _International Law and Standards Applicable in Natural Disaster Situations,_ edited by Erica Harper for IDLO.\n\n## 1\\. Cooperation and coordination\n\nThe numerous actors involved in post-disaster relief and reconstruction – governments, NGOs, civil society organisations, donors, aid agencies, the private sector and affected communities – must coordinate to channel resources effectively and transparently to the people who need them.\n\nRegular dialogue between actors and adopting consistent policies and procedures can reduce opportunities for corruption, enhance transparency, and strengthen mutual trust and accountability.\n\n## 2\\. Country ownership\n\nLocal actors understand local realities and are generally best placed to assess actual needs. As long as realistic reconstruction strategies and action plans are in place, donors and aid agencies should respect host countries’ leadership in humanitarian relief and reconstruction operations and align their own work accordingly.\n\n## 3\\. Capacity development\n\nBuilding capacity among local actors – particularly in financial and administrative management – will support institutions in charge of overseeing and coordinating relief work. Capacity-building programmes should include the establishment or reinforcement of clear policies against fraud and corruption in both the public and private sectors, plus strengthening the function of the media as corruption watchdogs.\n\nBeyond the immediate benefit in a crisis situation, combining short-term humanitarian assistance with this type of capacity development will contribute to longer-term development goals and ensure greater sustainability.\n\n## 4\\. Broad participation in society\n\nLack of consultation with the ultimate beneficiaries may lead to inappropriate aid projects and further marginalisation of the people most affected. The entire aid process should therefore be people-centred and participatory.\n\nThis means, for example:\n\n*   involving all stakeholders in decision-making processes;\n*   incorporating existing local expertise and economic capacity;\n*   ensuring broad representation on the boards of any trust funds established to manage incoming assistance.\n\nWorking closely with local civil society organisations and communities can help ensure aid is accurately targeted and efficient, as well as contribute to local empowerment and a stronger sense of ownership.\n\n## 5\\. Transparency and accountability\n\nTransparent procedures and sound accountability mechanisms allow all stakeholders to appraise the intentions and actions taken in relief and reconstruction processes. This fosters mutual trust and confidence. The imperative for actors to disclose their activities and intentions pressurises them to act faithfully and channel aid to the most needy recipients.\n\nSome valuable threads to draw together here include:\n\n*   establishing transparent mechanisms to monitor aid flows from source to end user;\n*   using teams to conduct needs assessments to ensure mutual supervision;\n*   ensuring clear communication using local languages and communication methods;\n*   implementing transparency mechanisms for public procurement processes, which may be fast-tracked due to the crisis. In addition to considering tools such as Integrity Pacts, governments should maintain minimum competitive tendering standards and proper documentation;\n*   insisting that governments and aid agencies, plus other stakeholders such as community leaders, commit themselves to full accountability for their activities. Audits, along with community oversight and participation, are essential tools here.\n\n## 6\\. Monitoring, reporting and evaluation\n\nIndependent monitoring of aid flows and projects should complement internal controls in order to increase accountability and minimise corruption risks. Civil society organisations and beneficiary communities can play a powerful role here, along with effective complaints mechanisms for agency staff, the media and the general public.\n\nThese community-led monitoring and evaluation approaches (“people’s audits”) depend on freedom of expression and opinion. In their absence, anonymous whistleblowing channels and protections will be needed.\n\n## 7\\. Establishment of enforcement mechanisms\n\nWhistleblowing and corruption reporting systems are only as effective as their enforcement – so governments and aid agencies need clear policies for handling reports, and sanctions need to be properly and visibly enforced. Potential wrongdoers need to be given a clear message that corrupt practices will be investigated and sanctioned.",[415],{"tags_id":416},{"id":269,"name":270},[],{"id":419,"title":420,"slug":421,"image":422,"type":292,"date":423,"body":424,"language":7,"tags":425,"translations":428},9746,"Corruption in natural disaster situations – can our experiences help prevent corruption related to covid-19?","corruption-in-natural-disaster-situations-can-our-experiences-help-prevent-corruption-related-to-covid-19-1704","71983c9f-166a-4b6f-baba-54ccb192278f","2020-04-23","“Unprecedented” comes up again and again in commentaries on covid-19. But as I listen to more of my colleagues’ and other experts’ reflections on corruption in relation to the pandemic, it strikes me that we’ve seen many of the same features and corruption risks before.\n\nIn 2009 I co-wrote, with our former colleague Mirella Mahlstein, a chapter for _International Law and Standards Applicable in Natural Disaster Situations_ edited by Erica Harper for IDLO (available in open access [here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fcurbing-risks-and-opportunities-corruption-natural-disaster-situations)). In the chapter, we explain why natural disaster situations are particularly vulnerable to corruption and other forms of abuse of funds. As I re-read the chapter, it becomes clear that the covid-19 pandemic and international response share many of the same elements as natural disaster situations.\n\nThe big picture is that major natural disasters, like the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, often trigger a massive humanitarian response. This manifests as a sudden and enormous influx of money, goods and services into a country or region which is thrown into disarray from the unexpected event and whose institutions and infrastructure may be compromised. Governments and aid agencies are under enormous pressure to assist quickly. And like natural disasters, there is no moral dilemma to put a check on the process, as victim countries of the covid-19 health and economic crisis are seen as entirely blameless.\n\nSimilar thoughts were voiced just now by the President of the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), Martin Mrčela, [noticing in particular the risks](https:\u002F\u002Femerging-europe.com\u002Fnews\u002Fgreco-warns-of-covid-19-corruption-risks\u002F) when countries display a combination of emergency, concentration of power, derogation of rights and freedoms, and large amounts of money infused into the economy.\n\nCorruption risks in natural disaster situations that are particularly relevant to the current pandemic relate to:\n\n## Size\n\nThe huge financial and in-kind assistance involved is a dangerous enticement – and bad actors might reason that diversion will be less noticeable when more money and goods are involved. So inhibitions are lower, while the money that can be made through corruption is multiplied.\n\n## Speed\n\nA hasty or skipped needs assessment may result in poor targeting, over- or under-supply of aid, or inappropriate projects. These all create opportunities for exploitation. Pressure to deliver aid quickly, coupled with emergency exception clauses, can also lead to bypassing standard procurement procedures.\n\n## Power\n\nOne-sided resource transfers exacerbate the asymmetrical power relationship between beneficiaries, who are economically and politically weak, and aid agencies. This power imbalance can result in low levels of transparency and accountability, increasing opportunities for corruption.\n\n## Complexity\n\nWhen many different actors are involved in a (post-)disaster situation, this complexity helps to camouflage corruption. Lack of coordination among donors, governments, civil society organisations and private contractors – and their multiple different policies and guidelines – may lead to double-funding of the same project and other direct and indirect fraud or abuse.\n\n## Weak institutions\n\nA high level of pre-crisis corruption due to weak institutions in affected states can increase corruption risks in disaster situations. Anti-corruption mechanisms, where they exist, may be weakened as governments focus on other priorities.\n\n## Context\n\nWhen emergency relief is delivered by international organisations or bilateral aid agencies, expatriate staff in charge of the relief operations may lack experience with local conditions in a country. These local conditions include existing power relations or – [as my colleague Claudia Baez Camargo emphasises](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Frethinking-governance-times-covid-19-pandemic) in her research – the different social norms that exist around governance and corruption. Aid programmes could unintentionally reinforce inequalities in wealth and power at the local level.\n\n## Tools for corruption prevention in the covid-19 response\n\nIn addition to highlighting these and other risks, the paper goes on to use case studies of natural disaster response situations to illuminate individual risks and the respective responsibilities among the different involved actors.\n\nIn the final section, we note that preventing opportunities for corruption in post-disaster situations is fundamental to ensuring that aid eventually benefits the victims. In the context of covid-19, this seems especially pertinent. Maybe the brief guidance on tools and mechanisms to prevent and detect corruption in emergency relief operations, covering seven areas, from cooperation and coordination to monitoring, evaluation and enforcement, will help those in charge of corruption prevention in the covid-19 response.\n\n[Read the chapter](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2019-01\u002FCorruption%20in%20natural%20disaster%20situations.pdf) here or download the entire book [here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.globalprotectioncluster.org\u002F_assets\u002Ffiles\u002Ftools_and_guidance\u002Fnatural_disasters\u002FNatural_Disaster_Manual_EN.pdf). It was published by the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) in 2009. Note that the material is copyrighted but may be reproduced by any method without fee for any educational purposes, provided that the source is acknowledged.",[426],{"tags_id":427},{"id":61,"name":62},[],{"id":430,"title":431,"slug":432,"image":433,"type":292,"date":53,"body":434,"language":7,"tags":435,"translations":438},9748,"Debating asset recovery in the light of covid-19","debating-asset-recovery-in-the-light-of-covid-19-1700","421e3621-1282-495c-bbe5-1f94d2652e2d","The disruptive force of the covid-19 pandemic is sweeping around the world. Anti-corruption and asset recovery assistance programmes, such as those in which our International Centre for Asset Recovery specialises, are caught up in the waves – for better or for worse.\n\nOur team of asset recovery experts has been reflecting on some of the challenges that covid-19 poses to anti-corruption and asset recovery efforts in our partner countries. They've seen many concrete examples of these challenges already, and helped with creative ways to try to overcome them. But beyond the challenges and the pessimists' gloom, many also see great potential in triggering this traditionally conservative sector to embrace modern times.\n\nWe've put together a [special analysis](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2020-04\u002Fcovid_asset_recovery_analysis.pdf) look at five initial areas for the asset recovery community to consider. In brief, they cover:\n\n1\\. Closing the “digital divide”: necessary but not sufficient? The restrictions on in-person meetings, working in offices and travelling show that investment in technology such as reliable internet and secure email and storage systems is dearly needed by anti-corruption agencies in low-income countries. This has numerous side benefits, but our experts warn that while necessary, technology alone won't overcome the gaps and hurdles along the path to asset recovery.\n\n2\\. Legal hurdles may remain, but what scope is there to streamline procedures? Perhaps video evidence in court hearings, more efficient information-sharing and fast-tracking of confiscation orders for a start. A digital system for mutual legal assistance – long a dream of asset recovery practitioners – would also save time and money in the long run.\n\n3\\. Can pressure from citizens trigger political will – on both sides? How governments react to greater financial and social pressures resulting from the crisis is hard to predict - but in Kenya, for example, the government has already announced the use of recovered assets from corruption cases to fund covid-19-related procurement (see our expert’s [opinion column](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.the-star.co.ke\u002Fopinion\u002Fcolumnists\u002F2020-04-13-putting-money-recovered-from-graft-to-good-use-against-covid-19\u002F)). Pragmatic use of political capital and smart communication about the tangible benefits of asset recovery may be a way to turn around fears that states will marginalise asset recovery efforts and cut funding for assistance programmes\n\n4\\. How does this raise the stakes in the debate over the use of returned assets? Covid-19 is changing the long-standing debate over who has the right to dictate what returned assets are used for. In one case already, it's helped trigger an agreement between two countries. In challenging periods, we are freer to challenge the rules – so what other topics are up for debate?\n\n5\\. How does this change the role of asset recovery in the wider framework of anti-corruption and sustainable development? Recent debates around the benefits of asset recovery for soft assets, such as strengthening institutions and the rule of law, are affected by countries' urgent need for hard assets, or cash. We believe in situational decisions and no radical moves in one direction or another.\n\nRead the [extended analysis here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2020-04\u002Fcovid_asset_recovery_analysis.pdf). Feedback welcome.\n\nPhoto by [Edwin Andrade](https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@theunsteady5?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText).",[436],{"tags_id":437},{"id":61,"name":62},[],{"id":440,"title":441,"slug":442,"image":443,"type":292,"date":444,"body":445,"language":7,"tags":446,"translations":449},9750,"COVID-19: What does “business continuity” look like at the Basel Institute?","covid-19-what-does-business-continuity-look-like-at-the-basel-institute-1559","e3c4a15f-2ef1-419f-b8b6-a08cf985cbd6","2020-04-09","The agility that we pride ourselves on at the Basel Institute is often tested, not least by political turbulence in our partner countries. Beyond its implications for society and its catastrophic impact on victims and health systems, the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest test for us so far.\n\nWe know we are anything but alone in this, and – as with corruption – it is clear we can only come out of this in a good way if we share our experiences and help each other. In this spirit, we wanted to give you a sense of how we are adapting in these early days, with the generous support of our partners and donors, and our feelings for the future.\n\n## Life under lockdown\n\nOur first priority is to ensure the safety of our people – our staff and their families and our colleagues in partner organisations. Our offices are closed and all travel has stopped. Some of our field staff have chosen to remain in-country, while others have been repatriated.\n\nSecond, like others, we are adapting to life under lockdown. There are definite challenges to teleworking in terms of psychological impact and productivity, particularly for those of us with children home from school. But like others, we are finding that video meetings work fairly well and, combined with our regular virtual morning coffee breaks, allow for a degree of human interaction. It is fair to say that we are using means of communication involving seeing each other more frequently than in the past, when we would mostly talk on the phone or write emails. Because we bumped into each other in the coffee room, in the hallway or during in-country trips.\n\nNot attending meetings and conferences is difficult in a line of work where, because we often discuss highly sensitive matters which require trust, face-to-face contacts and relationships are important. And despite the current buzz about virtual training, it doesn’t match the buzz of students [learning about corruption research](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublic-governance\u002Ftraining-courses) with our Head of Governance Research Claudia Baez Camargo, or of trainees working together on a [simulated money laundering case](http:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fasset-recovery\u002Ftraining-programmes) during a workshop led by ICAR’s Head of Training Phyllis Atkinson and her training team.\n\nNotwithstanding, and without planning to do away with in-person trainings at all, increasing our virtual training capabilities has advantages. More anti-corruption practitioners can benefit from our capacity-building programmes, and at more flexible times. In fact, our Public Finance Management experts in Peru have already proven this: they launched the latest in a series of [virtual courses for public officials](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fvirtual-training-course-public-financial-management-launched-peru) just this week, with 800 new trainees joining the thousands who have benefited from these in the past. In addition, we have already seen a nearly 300 percent increase in activity on our [eLearning courses](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Felearning-courses) and similarly increased demand for our [Basel AML Index](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fbasel-aml-index) and [Basel Open Intelligence](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fbasel-open-intelligence) tools.\n\nFinally, less work-related travel helps many of us to clear our heads and to-do lists, not to mention stay healthier. And we have all seen the charts showing the wider environmental benefits of taking cars off the streets and planes out of the skies.\n\nWhatever happens, we have learnt some valuable additional skills and ways of working to take forward into the future.\n\n## Remote working in low-tech contexts\n\nIn many of our partner countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, digital systems – never mind remote working methods – are not widely available or used. This affects our [International Centre for Asset Recovery](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fasset-recovery) experts the most, as it makes case mentoring and training a challenge to say the least.\n\n*   Files are often on paper, stored manually and shared in person.\n*   Computers and video conferencing equipment are insufficient or in some cases non-existent.\n*   Electricity and internet connections are unreliable and expensive or, for many staff who have returned to their homes in rural villages, simply unavailable. \n*   Our partners are often not used to communicating virtually. Many government staff in our partner countries don’t use professional email addresses, and computer skills are sometimes weak.\n*   In these contexts, personal contact is even more vital to maintain progress on cases.\n\nBut necessity is the mother of invention and, as one of our field experts points out, patience is her sister. The ICAR team are helping each other find creative ways to continue case assistance and mentoring, from photos of documents and drafts transmitted through secure file-sharing systems to – for relationship-building – social media. They are also finding more time to focus on preparing the institutionalisation of good practices through SOPs and manuals, building on insights from in-country practice for global policy recommendations, and helping partners introduce new technologies more efficiently and securely.\n\nThe crisis is revealing the value of our model of embedding asset recovery experts in partner institutions. Many are still in-country, and the trust built through this model will allow us to continue where we left it quickly as soon as restrictions are relaxed. And as we hope everyone is experiencing, relationships grow stronger when we face a crisis together.\n\n## Digital security challenges\n\nRemote working raises numerous security challenges. Many of these are not new to our IT team because the nature of our work has always required that we pay great attention to this. Still, it’s a good time to review questions like:\n\n*   How do we control remote access to case files and other data internally and with partners?\n*   How do we ensure the security of messages transmitted over email or instant messaging platforms, if that’s what’s commonly in use in our partner countries?\n*   The mixing of professional and personal communication and devices – is it ever OK to use a personal WhatsApp account for work-related information or to store confidential files on a personal phone?\n*   How secure are off-the-shelf video conferencing platforms and how can we use them in a safe way, in particular with respect to retaining control over data?\n*   How do we deal with the fact that criminals are also moving online, and protect ourselves and our partners from the risks of hacking, phishing and cyber fraud?\n\nOur IT team is working hard to find technical solutions in addition to our regular secure processes and communication systems. But security is about people, not just technology, so our emphasis is on pragmatic solutions that work for us and for our partners too.\n\n## Higher stakes for compliance and Collective Action\n\nPracticalities are less of an issue for our [Compliance](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fcompliance) and [Collective Action](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fcollective-action) team, as most companies and organisations are well set up with technology and remote collaboration.\n\nBut Gemma Aiolfi, Head of Compliance and Collective Action, says that dealing with a crisis can reveal weaknesses in systems when it comes to preventing corruption. These could come from weaker controls through remote working, the fast adaptation or bypassing of regular systems and procedures, or the postponement of vital compliance training.\n\nThere will be a shake-out in some industry sectors. Economic effects will likely increase competition for business as firms struggle for survival and employees strive to demonstrate their value in bringing in business. This could result in sacrificing resources that would have been allocated to the compliance function. In the worst of all scenarios it could also lead to companies reverting to old bad practices of trying to win contracts through unfair means.\n\nThe crisis is also an opportunity for companies to develop better preparedness for pandemics and other catastrophic risks. Considering [what this means for anti-corruption and corporate governance](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fbroken-beamers-and-more-shining-light-business-continuity-plans-and-compliance) will be key. They should also consider engaging in Collective Action to supplement their individual compliance efforts more efficiently.\n\n## Pressures on public governance and health systems\n\nThe pressures caused by the pandemic and governments’ resulting measures are, as one colleague in Mozambique says, raising the stakes for all of us and teaching us to live with uncertainty.\n\nThat couldn’t be more true for health systems of countries in which corruption is widespread. Health systems are known to be particularly exposed to high-level corruption risks. In these times, it is even more vital that health services and equipment are provided fairly – not to those who bribe or attempt to profit from the emergency by hoarding equipment or diverting donations of monetary aid and equipment.\n\nWe hope that our [Public Governance](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublic-governance) team’s pilot intervention targeting [social norms in Tanzania’s health system](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fclaudia-baez-camargos-quick-guide-social-norms-and-corruption) will be able to go ahead, as research projects such as these are crucial to designing more effective anti-corruption interventions. And that Claudia Baez Camargo is right that the crisis, in provoking us all to [rethink governance](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Frethinking-governance-times-covid-19-pandemic), will teach us all the value of public goods.\n\n## A boost for anti-corruption action against illegal wildlife trade\n\nThe pandemic has attracted attention towards [illegal wildlife trad](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fillegal-wildlife-trade)e, as it becomes clear that COVID-19 was a direct result of the illegal trade in live animals. The pandemic makes a powerful argument that addressing the world’s fourth-largest organised crime is not just about conservation or animals in a faraway land, but has direct implications on human health, security and the economy.\n\nWe welcome commitments by countries including China and Vietnam to crack down on the trade and consumption of wildlife, but caution that the crux is [how effectively these bans are enforced](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fcoronavirus-wake-call-illegal-wildlife-trade). Key will be to tackle the corruption and financial crime that fuel the illegal trade by [bringing together](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fcovid-19-how-anti-corruption-tools-and-industry-collaboration-can-help-us-win-fight-against) law enforcement with the companies and financial institutions most closely affected by the trade.\n\n## Adapting together in our connected world\n\nThese are just some initial thoughts, and we hope that our sharing of this experience is useful for others who face similar challenges. We will continue to work with our partners as they also try to stay on track with the vital work they are doing to fight corruption and financial crime, and to make the world a better place. Because if we have learned anything from this crisis, it is that we are all connected, for better and for worse.",[447],{"tags_id":448},{"id":61,"name":62},[],{"id":451,"title":452,"slug":453,"image":454,"type":292,"date":70,"body":455,"language":7,"tags":456,"translations":457},9790,"Gretta Fenner's quick guide to financial crime in illegal wildlife trade","gretta-fenners-quick-guide-to-financial-crime-in-illegal-wildlife-trade-1028","43ebe090-52e2-433e-9388-d9a27e0ab335","Every day, an unknown number of elephant tusks, rhino horn, pangolin scales and other wildlife products – alive and dead – cross the oceans in container ships and cargo flights for use in traditional medicine, crafts and the illegal pet trade. Rare trees are felled in ancient forests and shipped out under false certificates. They leave behind the butchered carcasses of the last remaining animals of many species, scarred and emptied landscapes, legal livelihoods undermined by corruption and criminal activity, and communities ravaged by organised crime networks. The Basel Institute is contributing to tackling [illegal wildlife trade](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fillegal-wildlife-trade) and its negative impacts on communities, economies and biodiversity from the angle of financial crime. This quick guide gives an insight into our approach and how our various areas of expertise fit together to help solve this complex puzzle.\n\n## What is the size and scope of wildlife crime?\n\nA [2019 World Bank report](http:\u002F\u002Fpubdocs.worldbank.org\u002Fen\u002F482771571323560234\u002FWBGReport1017Digital.pdf) on illegal logging, fishing and wildlife trade estimates the illicit industry at $1 trillion per year. Illegal wildlife trade alone is estimated to be the fourth or fifth largest illicit trade in terms of global volume. Profits go into the pockets of criminals or are used to fuel political insurrection. With a high level of convergence with other serious crimes like drug and human trafficking it contributes to raising levels of criminality and affects the integrity of the international financial system and global trade. The losses are borne by the planet and its people.\n\n## What is being done to stop the criminals?\n\nA lot, but not enough. Current efforts to combat wildlife trafficking focus primarily on protecting the animals, catching poachers, and reducing demand. Highly valuable as these efforts are, they do not get to those who control the international networks and profit from the trade. Poachers are swiftly replaced by other poachers. It is virtually impossible to protect every animal individually, and certainly not cost-effective. They also do little to help countries, communities, and companies build systemic resilience against IWT.\n\n## What is the Basel Institute’s approach?\n\nPut simply: follow the money. Illegal wildlife trade cannot occur at the global scale without financial crime and corruption. Traffickers resort to financial crime at every stage of their illegal supply chain, from bribing officials to laundering the money through international financial systems. Using financial investigation techniques, international cooperation, and intelligence from the public and private sectors, we can follow the money trail to catch the high-level criminals at the centre of the trafficking networks. We can take the profit out of the picture by confiscating the proceeds and instrumentalities of the crime – going after the money, not just the criminals. And we can use tested anti-corruption techniques to address weaknesses in the public and private sectors that are created by bribery and fraud. Tackling wildlife trafficking from the angle of financial crime is widely recognised by the international community as a crucial gap that needs to be filled. But filling it is, in practice, not so simple. The Basel Institute, with its 17-year track record in working around the world with public and private actors to prevent and combat corruption, is uniquely placed to do so.\n\n## What does it involve in practice?\n\nFirst, working with the private sector is crucial. Virtually all illegal wildlife products worldwide are trafficked via commercial ships, planes and trucks. The illicit payments and proceeds flow through commercial banks and other financial institutions. We are helping to unlock private-sector intelligence and action through the [United for Wildlife](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.unitedforwildlife.org\u002F) Transport and Financial Taskforces. The Taskforces, led by the Duke of Cambridge and Lord William Hague, bring together the world’s most powerful transport companies and financial institutions with law enforcement and field experts. Basel Institute staff have been instrumental in making this one of the most effective and groundbreaking initiatives of its kind. Today, our Intelligence Team operates the Information Sharing System at the heart of the initiative, and our Collective Action experts facilitate focus groups to multiply the members’ efforts.   We are also working to strengthen the [business case for companies](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fscarlet-wannenwetschs-quick-guide-role-business-tackling-illegal-wildlife-trade) in the financial, transport and other sectors to harden their defences against wildlife trafficking risks, and leverage the private sector’s huge amount of underused data. Second, almost all law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating and prosecuting wildlife crimes badly need upskilling in financial investigation, analysis and asset tracing techniques. There are also vital gaps in regional and international cooperation to gather evidence, broaden investigations to wider criminal networks and apply financial crime charges to high-level wildlife traffickers. Our dedicated IWT investigation experts are mentoring specialist law enforcement officers across Africa to help fill these gaps. As part of their mission, they facilitate cooperation on intelligence and live cases between trusted law enforcement partners, regionally and internationally. Third, we need to better understand the real drivers and facilitators of wildlife trafficking in local communities, and how the trafficking networks operate and interact with formal and informal economies. Our research team is conducting bottom-up field research on [social norms around wildlife trafficking](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fsaba-kassas-quick-guide-drivers-and-facilitators-wildlife-trafficking) in East Africa. In parallel, intelligence and social network analysts are conducting pioneering research to theorise and map how IWT criminal networks operate and interact with other transnational trafficking and crime organisations. Law enforcement, policymakers and researchers will benefit from these insights. [Download a PDF of this quick guide in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fquick-guide-13-financial-crime-illegal-wildlife-trade).",[],[],{"id":459,"title":460,"slug":461,"image":462,"type":292,"date":463,"body":464,"language":7,"tags":465,"translations":466},9797,"Supporting the UN Global Compact and its Ten Principles","supporting-the-un-global-compact-and-its-ten-principles-1015","be9bbca5-303e-4702-b527-f92c68bf20ba","2019-10-21","We are pleased to once again confirm our commitment to the [United Nations Global Compact](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.unglobalcompact.org\u002F) (UNGC) and its Ten Principles and submit our third biannual [Communication on Engagement](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2019-10\u002FBasel%20Institute_CoE_UNGC_Oct%202019.pdf). Our efforts around the world to strengthen governance and counter corruption and other financial crimes directly fulfil the UNGC’s [10th Principle on Anti-Corruption](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.unglobalcompact.org\u002Fwhat-is-gc\u002Fmission\u002Fprinciples\u002Fprinciple-10).\n\nWe have partnered with the UNGC since 2013 in support of our shared goal of combating corruption. The Communication on Engagement describes our activities and impact in support of the UNGC Principles from October 2017 through October 2019. Below is a brief summary.\n\n## [B20 Collective Action Hub](\u002Fnode\u002F1095)\n\n## Support to local Global Compact networks\n\nAs part of a joint project funded by the Siemens Integrity Initiative, the ICCA provided expert support to the UNGC Office and local networks in Brazil, Japan, Kenya and Nigeria. Each local network developed a roadmap setting out how they will use Collective Action to generate tangible anti-corruption action by businesses in their networks.\n\n## Raising awareness\n\nThe Basel Institute continuously raises awareness of the UN Global Compact as an example of Collective Action at conferences and in its own Collective Action initiatives, as well as the Global Compact principles in the ICCA’s ongoing trainings with the private sector and other actors.\n\n## Swiss UNGC local network\n\nThe Basel Institute is an active member in the UNGC local network in Switzerland and attended the General Assembly for 2019. The Basel Institute’s Head of Compliance, Corporate Governance and Collective Action, Gemma Aiolfi, gave the keynote speech at the network’s [Third Dialogue](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fsupporting-swiss-global-compact-network-principle-ten-anti-corruption) in May 2019.\n\n## Other highlights\n\n*   In March 2018, the ICCA presented on Collective Action at the Global Compact Network Korea’s Fair Player Summit and Pledge Ceremony.\n*   The ICCA was also delighted to welcome representatives of the local networks of Brazil, Japan and Korea at ICCA conferences in Switzerland in 2018.\n*   Advice to the Brazil network on how to further develop its facilitation role for several Collective Action initiatives.\n\nWe remain steadfast in our commitment to contribute to the global fight against corruption and look forward to continued collaboration with the UN Global Compact and promotion of its Ten Principles in the years to come.",[],[],{"id":468,"title":469,"slug":470,"image":471,"type":292,"date":472,"body":473,"language":7,"tags":474,"translations":475},9830,"A dream of fools? Foreward to our Annual Report 2018","a-dream-of-fools-foreward-to-our-annual-report-2018-951","0b125ce7-7ba2-4580-b0bf-5f12bab072da","2019-07-22","As every year when the time comes to write the foreword for our Annual Report, we are filled with pride, gratitude and a sense of satisfaction. It is a privilege to work with passionate people, committed partners and supportive donors, and to work toward a goal that helps make this world a better place.\n\nThis may make some of you roll your eyes. And we get that. It can sound naive, and today more so than in a long time. Working for the good of the world is not trendy in many quarters, and it seems particularly rare among those who are elected to do exactly that. The geopolitical context also seems to indicate that the quality of governance is declining. Systems are infested with corruption and captured by individualistic interests that are far removed from the voters’ voices.\n\nYet it is so important to remember that there is a broader objective to our daily grind, the frustrations and setbacks that all of us in the anti-corruption community experience. And to be proud of it. Because not all is doom and gloom. The rising climate change youth movements, for example, are showing us that energy can be mobilised when we show credibly and based on facts that the collective good matters for all of us, individually and collectively. \n\nThis idea of collective responsibility – and collective gain – and of the broader societal relevance of our work is what has been driving our team since the Basel Institute’s establishment, now 15 years ago. \n\nIn our work with the private sector, we feel strongly that the Collective Action approach to anti-corruption is now practised more frequently and recognised as a critical means to achieve lasting change in our economy-driven societies. In the coming years, we will work with partner companies to firmly enshrine this principle as an international anti-corruption norm so that it can attain its full potential. \n\nSimilarly, through our work with law enforcement, other public sector accountability institutions and non-state actors, we find increased readiness to join forces across institutions, borders and sectors. By that, we mean truly join forces, not just go to conferences together. By way of example, in practice this is enabling us to carry the governance and anti-corruption drive into new sectors, as we have started doing in the area of illegal wildlife trade. And it means that law enforcement is showing increased interest in what prevention departments do, for example understanding drivers of corruption and how this can feed into intelligence-led enforcement. \n\nThe multi-sector and multi-disciplinary approach of the Basel Institute is well placed to support these developments, and we are happy if we can play a small role in fostering such thinking. So yes, we are proud. We are also humbled by the challenges that continue to lie ahead. And we are highly motivated to work with all of you to continue putting hurdles in the way of those who think that making the world a better place is a dream of fools.\n\nTo those we say that we gladly side with the fools.\n\n_Download our [2018 Annual Report here](\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2019-07\u002FBasel%20Institute%20Annual%20Report%202018.pdf)._",[],[],{"id":477,"title":478,"slug":479,"image":480,"type":292,"date":481,"body":482,"language":7,"tags":483,"translations":484},9835,"Reflections on 2018: International Centre for Asset Recovery","reflections-on-2018-international-centre-for-asset-recovery-952","f4b6973a-a2ac-4de6-868e-91907e02b663","2019-07-21","The activities of the [International Centre for Asset Recovery](\u002Fnode\u002F25) (ICAR) in 2018 continued to have impact across all aspects of our core mission: to enable partner countries to investigate complex cases of corruption and money laundering, send criminals to jail and recover stolen assets stashed abroad.\n\nHowever, the amount of hard assets recovered – notably in 2018, the USD 16.5 million recovered with the assistance of our embedded experts in Peru – is just one part of a much wider picture. In line with our [Operational Strategy](\u002Fnode\u002F27) 2017–20 and the ICAR Theory of Change, we believe the lasting impact of ICAR’s work also lies in the softer assets gained along the way.\n\n## Building long-term capacity – the ripple effect\n\nThese softer assets include greater capacity among key anti-corruption officials and institutions, leading to stronger rule of law. In 2018, we trained over 500 officials in 10 countries on financial investigation and asset recovery, as well as new topics such as money laundering using Bitcoin. According to interviews in the context of our training impact assessment, participants have not only learned a lot but changed their practices at work as a result of our input. Staying in touch with them and supporting them with ad hoc advice is part and parcel of ensuring that training leads to sustainable results.\n\nA highlight of the year was our team of local ICAR-certified trainers in Tanzania, who have started rolling out our training programme to their colleagues across the country.\n\nSmoother inter-agency cooperation both domestically and internationally is another key goal of ICAR’s work, since complex financial crimes can only be tackled with a collective effort. Nearly half of the over 100 ongoing cases supported by ICAR experts advanced in 2018 thanks to inter-agency or international cooperation. This has already led to new initiatives to create inter-agency taskforces and international teams, which we will continue to support through 2019 and beyond.\n\n## Creating stronger systems for sustainable development\n\nA typical side effect of ICAR’s in-country case work – particularly where our experts are embedded in partner agencies working side by side with anti-corruption officials – is coming across procedural or policy gaps that make the lives of investigators and prosecutors difficult. When this leads to internal or government-wide reform, our practical insights can help ensure that policymaking is not just a copy-paste of international good practice but locally anchored and contextualised. \n\nOne example is Tanzania’s new international cooperation team within its Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau, set up during 2018 with ongoing advice and mentoring from ICAR experts to build on progress in intelligence-gathering from foreign jurisdictions.\n\nIn this way, we believe ICAR’s work in 2018 continues to impact our partner countries’ efforts far beyond recovering assets – as important as that is. It helps strengthen systems and leave a sustainable legacy to deter criminal activity, protect public funds and support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.\n\n## A multidisciplinary approach to tackle complex financial crimes\n\nComplementing our law enforcement and asset recovery-focused assistance, our country programmes are increasingly asked to respond to a growing trend – and need – to become more multidisciplinary in fighting crime. This means more practically connecting asset recovery with countries’ broader anti-corruption and governance agendas.\n\nAn example of that is our programme of work in Malawi, which benefits from additional funding from the UK Department for International Development. The scope has now expanded to include support to the review of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, fresh engagements with the private sector and assistance with developing innovative research tools and corruption risk assessment strategies. Experts from the Basel Institute’s divisions for Collective Action, Compliance and Public Governance will join ICAR in driving this integrated, multi-faceted approach to combating corruption and building capacity to recover stolen assets.\n\n## Driving innovation in asset recovery techniques\n\nICAR’s flexibility and global network of experts, spanning former prosecutors, lawyers and financial investigators, has been instrumental in helping to introduce new and context-sensitive legislative and technical innovations to support our partner countries’ asset recovery efforts. 2018 saw the first successful use of plea bargaining in a high-profile case in Malawi, the introduction of a structured approach to unexplained wealth cases in Tanzania and the first use of international video evidence and intelligence from hawala transactions in Kenya. In Peru, ICAR experts have contributed significantly to the elaboration of improved non-conviction-based forfeiture legislation introduced in 2018.\n\nThis creative approach to maximising the potential of partner countries’ legislative systems aligns with research by the Basel Institute’s Public Governance team, which emphasises the importance of context in both understanding criminal behaviour and countering it.\n\n2018 at a glance\n----------------\n\n## General\n\n*   In Peru, participation in the recovery of USD 16.5 million in stolen assets from accounts in [Switzerland](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fswitzerland-return-usd-15-million-stolen-assets-peru-landmark-extrajudicial-agreement) and [Luxembourg](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fperuvian-judiciary-confiscates-luxembourg-account-montesinos-arms-dealer) belonging to individuals linked to former Peruvian presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos. Learn more about ICAR’s work out of our Peru country office in 2018.\n*   Technical assistance and strategic advice on over [100 ongoing cases](\u002Fnode\u002F224) in 10 partner countries.\n*   Introduction in our partner countries of new legal practices including plea bargaining, non-conviction-based forfeiture and prosecuting for unexplained wealth, setup of new dedicated teams on intelligence and international cooperation, and establishment of multi-disciplinary asset recovery offices.\n\n## Training and eLearning\n\n*   [Training](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fasset-recovery\u002Ftraining-programmes) of over 500 investigators, prosecutors and judges in Financial Investigation and Asset Recovery, Offshore Structures and Mutual Legal Assistance, Corruption in Infrastructure Projects and Procurement, Financial Interviewing Skills and a new course on Money Laundering using Bitcoin.\n*   Training programmes delivered in 10 countries: Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Peru, Romania, Serbia, Uganda and Ukraine.\n*   Supervision of training programmes delivered by [ICAR-certified local trainers](\u002Fnode\u002F90).\n*   Support to training initiatives led by partner organisations, including with Swiss law firm MME on [FinTech AML Compliance Training](\u002Fnode\u002F755), and with the [Romanian Journalism Development Network](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Ffinal-workshop-mapping-and-visualising-cross-border-crime) on financial investigation for journalists as well as public and private sector investigators.\n*   Blended learning concept applied in Namibia, with an on-site training workshop based on the [Operational Analysis eLearning course](\u002Fnode\u002F80).\n*   Continued partnership with the Egmont Group on developing [eLearning modules](\u002Fnode\u002F26) for Financial Intelligence Units.\n\n## Digital tools\n\n*   Publication of seventh edition of the [Basel AML Index](\u002Fnode\u002F229), an independent ranking that assesses countries’ risk exposure to money laundering, with a record 11,500+ visitors to the Index website in the month of release.\n*   Development of the [Basel Open Intelligence](\u002Fnode\u002F36) tool for financial investigation, ready for launch in 2019.\n\n## Global policy dialogue\n\n*   Continued dissemination of the [Guidelines for the Efficient Recovery of Stolen Assets](https:\u002F\u002Fguidelines.assetrecovery.org\u002F) together with the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs and StAR Initiative.\n*   Participation in the UNCAC Working Group on Asset Recovery and associated discussions in dedicated Expert Group Meetings on Corruption involving Vast Quantities of Assets.\n*   Support to the development of the Framework for the Return of Assets from Corruption and Crime ([FRACCK](\u002Fnode\u002F920)) agreement between Kenya, Jersey, Switzerland and the UK.\n*   Joint organisation of the 3rd [Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fglobal-conference-criminal-finances-cryptocurrencies-kicks-europol) with Europol and Interpol.\n*   Support to the development of innovative practices for financial crime litigation as part of our membership in (and Secretariat role for) the [International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.financialcrimelitigators.org\u002F).\n\n## Looking ahead – planned activities in 2019\n\n*   Seek to respond to demands for expanding institutional scope of ICAR in-country programmes to support a chain-linked approach to asset recovery.\n*   Continue to strengthen exchange of knowledge and practices among ICAR partner countries and beyond to promote continued innovation in asset recovery.\n*   Explore opportunities to use training programmes and case-based advice to strengthen inter-agency cooperation.\n*   Promote the dissemination of innovative legal practices from ICAR partner countries in international forums.\n\n## More info\n\nThis text appears in the Basel Institute's [Annual Report 2018](\u002Fnode\u002F959).\n\nFor a deeper discussion of the link between asset recovery and sustainable development, see the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper 29: [Recovering assets in support of the SDGs – from soft to hard assets for development](\u002Fnode\u002F927).",[],[],{"id":486,"title":487,"slug":488,"image":489,"type":292,"date":490,"body":491,"language":7,"tags":492,"translations":493},10435,"FCPA Blog: Will the UN Security Council (finally) take up the fight against corruption?","fcpa-blog-will-the-un-security-council-finally-take-up-the-fight-against-corruption-2605","aeb7dba7-8a3b-49c9-b84e-258f5eb52e04","2018-09-13","_This blog was originally published on the FCPA Blog, which was discontinued in February 2024._\n\nThankfully, the economist-led debates in the 1990s about whether corruption is the necessary grease in the wheels of business are long behind. But we would argue that many people, including those most affected by it and possibly even those that are in the anti-corruption business, still don’t fully grasp what corruption does to our world.\n\nWhat’s wrong with a Head of State taking money from companies who want to win public contracts, especially if otherwise he or she seems to be running the country in an acceptable way? Hard to believe but I still get this question often. The answer seems obvious, but it seems the connection between corruption and lack of education or public healthcare is not an automatic one for many people. Thankfully, a few real-life examples usually suffice to demonstrate it.\n\nTaking the obvious next step of acknowledging that corruption is a direct impediment to the enjoyment of human rights already takes more convincing. But in our view, it is crystal clear: States that fail to effectively prevent and punish corruption are in direct violation of their obligations under international human rights treaties.\n\nOur security is protected by police, and terrorism is the business of radicals — or so we think. Yet Transparency International’s 2017 Global Corruption Barometer ranks the police as the most corrupt public institution. It is said that corrupt security services were the cause for a heavily delayed response to the Westgate shopping mall attack in Kenya in 2013. What that means is that people died as a direct result of corruption. Frustration about corruption pushes young people into associating with radical groups as these offer an opportunity to vent their anger. Terrorism flourishes where corruption is rife.\n\nWhy can criminal networks engaged in illegal trafficking in humans, arms and wildlife products operate so freely? Because they can bribe their way through customs and out of courts. And when they have laundered the proceeds of their crimes successfully through the international financial system, they can use these same monies to continue their criminal enterprises.\n\nFinally, let us not forget that when money buys votes, when money buys influence, when money buys politicians, when the media is co-opted by corrupt networks, we lose our fundamental right to participate in the destiny of our countries and consequently of our lives. Institutions of democracy, when undermined by corruption, as they sadly are to varying degrees almost everywhere in the world today, become a farce. They end up protecting rotten systems behind a pretty face.\n\nIs this reason enough to fight corruption? We certainly think so. The international community missed a critical opportunity when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) failed to list anti-corruption as one of their 17 high-level principles. We firmly believe that corruption is the root cause of most if not all hurdles to development; and as long as corruption prevails, achieving the SDGs will remain elusive.\n\nMaybe we have just seen this being corrected this week, which saw the first UN Security Council session on the relationship between corruption and conflict. Maybe we have just experienced the start of a new era for the fight against corruption, one that finally connects corruption to the reasons for which we need to eradicate corruption. To conflict and security, humanitarian crises, human rights, poverty and democracy. Many member states reported proudly about their efforts to eradicate corruption, and to hear this in the UN Security Council is an important first step. But we have heard similar statements many times in the past two decades in other important fora, and yet our global and domestic political and economic structures are possibly more undermined by corruption today than before the signing of the UN Convention against Corruption.\n\nIf elevating this topic to the UN Security Council should have any impact, we need to keep the pressure on and hold member states to account for what they promise in these high-level debates. And we, as anti-corruption practitioners, must be better at breaking thought barriers between our community and that of related areas, so that anti-corruption action is not happening in a silo but connected to where its impact may not be easily visible but where it does the greatest damage to our world.",[],[],{"id":495,"title":496,"slug":497,"image":498,"type":292,"date":499,"body":500,"language":7,"tags":501,"translations":502},10436,"FCPA Blog: Are companies and executives responsible for human rights violations abroad?","fcpa-blog-are-companies-and-executives-responsible-for-human-rights-violations-abroad-2604","15cbe156-29a7-4b3f-a0c1-5feeca52c234","2017-03-18","_This blog was originally published on the FCPA Blog, which was discontinued in February 2024._\n\nWhat is the responsibility and possible criminal liability of companies and their officials relating to human right violations allegedly committed abroad?\n\nShould a CEO for example step down when a violation of financial or other conduct rules has occurred, which may even make the corporation complicit in terrorism financing or war crimes? Or should prosecution be a consequence of such transgression?\n\nWhose conduct triggers a reaction by prosecution services: Acts by all persons associated with a company’s foreign subsidiaries, only subcontractors, also suppliers?\n\nIn several countries the controversial debate about corporation liability for violations of human rights abroad is fuelled either by legislative initiatives (e.g. the [Responsible Business Initiative](http:\u002F\u002Fkonzern-initiative.ch\u002F?lang=en)), or pending court decisions (as in the U.S.) or new laws (Australia).\n\nPublic concern about the accountability of corporations and their managers has given rise to such initiatives aimed at holding corporate actors accountable for certain rights violations of subsidiaries in their business activities.\n\nAt the international level, the UN Human Rights Council adopted the [Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.unglobalcompact.org\u002Flibrary\u002F2) (UNHRC 17\u002F4 of 16 June 2011, so-called Ruggie Principles).\n\n[The 2014\u002F95\u002FEU Accounting Directive](http:\u002F\u002Feur-lex.europa.eu\u002Flegal-content\u002FEN\u002FTXT\u002F?uri=CELEX%3A32014L0095) establishes reporting requirements on human rights compliance, with some members of the EU Parliament pushing for further reform with regard to criminal liability.\n\nThe Swiss [Responsible Business Initiative](http:\u002F\u002Fkonzern-initiative.ch\u002Finitiativtext\u002F?lang=en), signed by the end of 2016 by 120,000 Swiss citizens, launches a far-reaching attempt to implement the _Ruggie Principles_ into Swiss law, but clearly keeps criminal law out of the picture. Other countries consider criminal prosecution — and NGOs target such remedies.\n\nA global movement towards the expansion of corporate criminal liability law is thus not uni-directional. The challenge of making good in cases of human rights violations is of particular relevance for states that are hubs for multinational corporations operating in “high-risk” areas of commerce and jurisdictions.\n\nNew business and human rights frameworks present lawyers in practice with a new range of crucial questions, not only about where and when and for what type of wrongdoing a company or its managers may be brought to court, but also about a sustainable strategy to avoid human rights violations abroad. \n\nFor academics and activists, there are related concerns about the credibility of threats to charge entrepreneurs with overseas misconduct and the effectiveness of such reform in the light of the goals of the Ruggie Principles and the overall objectives of corporate law.\n\nIf you’re interested in further exploring this topic, join the International Association of Penal Law (IAPL) and the University of Basel for an international colloquium on _Prosecuting Companies for Human Rights Violations Abroad? The Jurisdictional Issues_ (June 2, 2017, Basel, Switzerland).\n\nSpeakers and panelists include:\n\n_Mark Pieth, University of Basel \u002F President Basel Institute on Governance, Switzerland_ \n\n_Radha Ivory, University of Queensland, Australia_\n\n_Sara Beale, Duke University, U.S.A._\n\n_Cedric Ryngaert, Utrecht University, Netherlands_\n\n_Kenneth Gallant, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, U.S.A._\n\n_Mirna Adjami_, Basel Institute on Governance\n\n_Felix Ehrat, Novartis, Switzerland_\n\n_Flavio Noto, Staatsanwaltschaft Basel-Stadt, Switzerland_\n\n_Urs Rybi, Public Eye Switzerland_\n\nFor more information or to register, please contact [Claudine.abt@unibas.ch](mailto:Claudine.abt@unibas.ch).",[],[],{"id":504,"title":505,"slug":506,"image":7,"type":292,"date":507,"body":508,"language":7,"tags":509,"translations":510},10221,"Collective Action Conference 2014: How can companies more effectively fight corruption?","collective-action-conference-2014-how-can-companies-more-effectively-fight-corruption-167","2014-06-26","_Comments from the Basel Institute on Governance Conference on Anti-Corruption Collective Action to address corporate and multi-stakeholder initiatives against bribery and extortion:_\n\nSome 150 experts from the worlds of business, civil society and government as well as international organisations began meeting today in Basel, Switzerland, to discuss the role of Collective Action as a tool in the fight against corruption. Anti-corruption Collective Action consists of initiatives that are formed by groups of companies, or multi-stakeholder groups, seeking to overcome common bribery and extortion problems faced by businesses.\n\n\"The ability of corrupt networks and organized crime to effect state capture means that we are in a condition where one sometimes needs to ask whether a powerful corruption network has a state in its grip or whether the state itself has become a corruption network. Either way, such a condition won't be dismantled easily; strong and united coalitions of companies, civil society and others whose aim is to tackle systemic corruption can however make a difference” said prominent Kenyan anti-corruption activist John Githongo, CEO, Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi Ltd., in his keynote address.\n\n“Challenges are however still of a great magnitude”, said Basel Institute on Governance President Mark Pieth stated in his opening remarks. He continued: “There is a need for introducing an element of creativity in the fight against corruption”.\n\nTargeted breakout sessions scheduled to take place during the conference will provide participants with the opportunity to delve further into the topics of Collective Action and collaboration in order to develop practical solutions for tackling these critical issues.\n\n\"It is essential to have an international dialogue which brings together all of the key actors concerned with Collective Action to further support clean business,\" said Dr Andreas Hoffmann, General Counsel of Siemens, commenting on the morning sessions before delivering his keynote speech.\"The conference is a major step in giving substance to this dialogue and will fundamentally support the B20 Collective Action Hub, which is run by the Basel Institute ́s International Centre for Collective Action (ICCA) in partnership with the UN Global Compact. The Hub offers tools and a forum for businesses and governments to take concrete steps to jointly step up against corruption and strengthen good business practice.”\n\nAdding to this, Soji Apampa, Head of the Convention on Business Integrity, a Nigeria-based NGO with the mission of promoting ethical business practices, confirmed that “goal congruence between businesses and between businesses and NGOs results in their partnership, which is key to advancing Collective Action and more effectively prevent corruption.”\n\nThe meeting is the first international conference convened by the Basel Institute on Governance’s new Centre for Collective Action. It is part of the G20\u002FB20 anti-corruption agenda aimed at identifying mechanisms that may effectively support companies’ efforts to resist bribery and extortion. The conference is organised with support from the Siemens Integrity Initiative.",[],[],1784638563305]