[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1678},["ShallowReactive",2],{"tag-982":3,"tag-events-982-1":6,"tag-stories-982-1":9,"tag-publications-982-1":161,"tag-news-982-1":1053},{"id":4,"name":5},982,"Anti-corruption",{"items":7,"total":8},[],0,{"items":10,"total":42},[11],{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":19,"area":21,"image":23,"content":38,"tags":98,"countries":147},9,"published",null,"Applying behavioural insights to reduce corruption in a Tanzanian hospital","How a behavioural anti-corruption pilot in a Dar es Salaam hospital reduced gift-giving and generated evidence on how social norms interventions can tackle corruption in public services.","tz-hospital","- **Direct impact:** Reduced gift-giving intentions, attitudes and positive beliefs among hospital users by 14–44 percent within eight weeks.\n- **Behaviour change mechanism:** Trained peer champions, visible leadership support and workplace messaging shifted social norms around gift acceptance among health workers.\n- **Systemic impact:** Generated practical evidence showing that social norms and behaviour change interventions can complement traditional anti-corruption controls in frontline public services.",[20],"Africa",[22],"Anti-corruption and prevention",{"id":24,"storage":25,"filename_disk":26,"filename_download":27,"title":28,"type":29,"created_on":30,"modified_on":31,"charset":14,"filesize":32,"width":33,"height":34,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":35,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":36,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":37},"3db2e132-5c95-4e29-87ef-141047e12dc0","local","3db2e132-5c95-4e29-87ef-141047e12dc0.webp","Gemini_Generated_Image_prumrlprumrlprum.webp","Gemini Generated Image Prumrlprumrlprum","image\u002Fwebp","2026-05-22T13:46:54.000Z","2026-05-29T21:37:53.000Z",114158,2752,1536,"Anti-gift giving poster as part of a pilot anti-corruption intervention in a public hospital in Tanzania.",{},"2026-05-22T13:46:55.000Z",[39,62,74,86],{"id":40,"collection":41,"sort":42,"stories_id":43,"item":58},35,"text",1,{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":44,"area":45,"content":46,"tags":50,"countries":56},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],36,37,38,[51,52,53,54,55],12,13,14,15,16,[57],8,{"id":59,"text":60,"class":14,"title":61,"anchor":14},73,"In many public service settings, including health facilities, users offer unofficial “gifts” to frontline staff to build social relationships and secure better treatment. Rooted in social norms of reciprocity, this practice can fuel petty corruption, entrench inequality and distort access to essential services like healthcare. Traditional anti-corruption measures like training or controls are often insufficient in such contexts, but approaches that target social norms and behaviour change show promise.","The situation",{"id":47,"collection":41,"sort":63,"stories_id":64,"item":70},2,{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":65,"area":66,"content":67,"tags":68,"countries":69},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":71,"text":72,"class":14,"title":73,"anchor":14},74,"We piloted a behavioural anti-corruption intervention in a public hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in collaboration with the UK Behavioural Insights Team, the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Utrecht. The intervention targeted social norms underpinning gift-giving and leveraged the social networks of health workers.\n\nUsing a peer-driven model, we recruited and trained anti-corruption champions from multiple professional groups. These champions shared messages discouraging gift acceptance in staff meetings and personal conversations. \n\nPosters and desk signs reinforced the messages, stating that staff do not accept bribes. Desk signs also provided guidance on tactfully refusing gifts and appealed to professional ethics, with endorsement from hospital management and the national medical association.","What we did",{"id":48,"collection":41,"sort":75,"stories_id":76,"item":82},3,{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":77,"area":78,"content":79,"tags":80,"countries":81},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":83,"text":84,"class":14,"title":85,"anchor":14},75,"**Direct impact: measurable behaviour change**\nWithin eight weeks, the pilot recorded a 14–44 percent reduction in gift-giving intentions, attitudes and positive beliefs among hospital users. Posters and peer messaging proved more effective than written guidance on how to refuse gifts. Some beliefs – particularly around gifts given as “gratitude” after services – were more resistant to change.\n\n**Indirect impact: evidence and models for wider reform**\nBeyond the measurable results, the pilot generated practical insights for tackling corruption rooted in social norms. It demonstrated the importance of clearly communicating that all forms of gift-giving constitute corruption, highlighting the negative consequences and using trusted peer networks and visible leadership support to reinforce behaviour change.\n\nThe intervention also showed the value of locally adapted, participatory approaches that complement traditional compliance measures. These lessons provide a foundation for applying similar social norms interventions in other hospitals and adapting the approach to address corruption risks in other public service sectors.","The impact",{"id":49,"collection":41,"sort":87,"stories_id":88,"item":94},4,{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":89,"area":90,"content":91,"tags":92,"countries":93},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":95,"text":96,"class":14,"title":97,"anchor":14},76,"The Tanzania hospital pilot reflects the Basel Institute’s broader approach of linking research with practical anti-corruption action. Our Prevention, Research and Innovation team examines how corruption is shaped by social norms, informal practices and political realities, recognising that behaviour change is central to sustainable reform.\n\nBy piloting innovative interventions in real-world settings, we generate evidence on what works in practice. These insights inform anti-corruption strategies used by governments, development partners and civil society organisations, and support the design of behaviour-focused interventions alongside traditional compliance and enforcement measures.","Wider context",[99,109,119,127,137],{"id":51,"stories_id":100,"tags_id":106},{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":101,"area":102,"content":103,"tags":104,"countries":105},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":107,"name":108},848,"Behavioural science",{"id":52,"stories_id":110,"tags_id":116},{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":111,"area":112,"content":113,"tags":114,"countries":115},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":117,"name":118},859,"Corruption risks",{"id":53,"stories_id":120,"tags_id":126},{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":121,"area":122,"content":123,"tags":124,"countries":125},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":4,"name":5},{"id":54,"stories_id":128,"tags_id":134},{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":129,"area":130,"content":131,"tags":132,"countries":133},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":135,"name":136},1309,"Informality",{"id":55,"stories_id":138,"tags_id":144},{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":139,"area":140,"content":141,"tags":142,"countries":143},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":145,"name":146},1381,"Health",[148],{"id":57,"stories_id":149,"countries_id":155},{"id":12,"status":13,"sort":14,"title":15,"image":24,"description":16,"slug":17,"highlights":18,"region":150,"area":151,"content":152,"tags":153,"countries":154},[20],[22],[40,47,48,49],[51,52,53,54,55],[57],{"id":156,"name":157,"code":158,"latitude":159,"longitude":160},224,"Tanzania","TZ",-6.36903,34.88882,{"items":162,"total":1052},[163,375,556,718,810],{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"date_created":165,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":177,"link_internal":179,"link_external":189,"featured":176,"topics":193,"languages":14,"type":195,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"image":197,"countries":207,"tags":279,"pdf":332,"authors":356},2446,"2026-06-04T21:25:14.000Z","2026-06-04T21:40:35.000Z",2971,"quick-guide-43-corruption-sanctions","Quick Guide 43: Corruption sanctions","How can governments respond to serious corruption when those responsible are beyond the reach of the law?\n\nWeak institutions, political protection or limited law enforcement capacity can make it difficult to investigate or prosecute powerful individuals suspected of corruption. In response, some governments have turned to corruption sanctions.\n\nCorruption sanctions allow governments to impose restrictions on people suspected of serious corruption even without a criminal conviction.\n\nThis Quick Guide introduces corruption sanctions, explains how they work and highlights both their potential and the concerns they raise.\n\n### About this Quick Guide\n\nYou are free to share and republish this work under a Creative Commons \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F\">BY-NC-ND 4.0 Licence\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>.","","English",2026,"Basel Institute on Governance","2026-06-02",false,[178],"Asset Recovery",[180,183,186],{"url":181,"caption":182},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-62"," Read related Working Paper",{"url":184,"caption":185},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fnode\u002F2968"," See related webinar",{"url":187,"caption":188},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications?type=2428"," View all Quick Guides",[190],{"url":191,"caption":192},"https:\u002F\u002Flearn.baselgovernance.org\u002Fcourse\u002Fview.php?id=386"," View online on LEARN",[194],"Asset Recovery and Enforcement",[196],"Quick guide",{"id":198,"storage":25,"filename_disk":199,"filename_download":200,"title":201,"type":202,"created_on":165,"modified_on":165,"charset":14,"filesize":203,"width":204,"height":205,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":206,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":165},"e0094eda-5362-4227-966b-d676340e21be","e0094eda-5362-4227-966b-d676340e21be.jpg?itok=pUB5SrLa","QG43-Corruption-sanctions-cover.jpg?itok=pUB5SrLa","Cover page of Quick Guide 43 Corruption sanctions","image\u002Fjpeg",42583,500,707,{},[208,239,259],{"id":209,"publications_id":210,"countries_id":233},1164,{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":165,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"image":198,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":213,"link_internal":214,"link_external":218,"featured":176,"topics":220,"languages":14,"type":221,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":222,"tags":225,"pdf":229,"authors":231},"03bebfd8-0b40-4a2a-820d-b9d9c13b9de6","3d9ff205-1640-4f34-b5b6-86977f51bbd6",[178],[215,216,217],{"url":181,"caption":182},{"url":184,"caption":185},{"url":187,"caption":188},[219],{"url":191,"caption":192},[194],[196],[209,223,224],1165,1166,[226,227,228],5232,5233,5234,[230],2499,[232],2643,{"id":234,"name":235,"code":236,"latitude":237,"longitude":238},225,"Ukraine","UA",48.37943,31.16558,{"id":223,"publications_id":240,"countries_id":254},{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":165,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"image":198,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":241,"link_internal":242,"link_external":246,"featured":176,"topics":248,"languages":14,"type":249,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":250,"tags":251,"pdf":252,"authors":253},[178],[243,244,245],{"url":181,"caption":182},{"url":184,"caption":185},{"url":187,"caption":188},[247],{"url":191,"caption":192},[194],[196],[209,223,224],[226,227,228],[230],[232],{"id":47,"name":255,"code":256,"latitude":257,"longitude":258},"Canada","CA",56.13037,-106.34677,{"id":224,"publications_id":260,"countries_id":274},{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":165,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"image":198,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":261,"link_internal":262,"link_external":266,"featured":176,"topics":268,"languages":14,"type":269,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":270,"tags":271,"pdf":272,"authors":273},[178],[263,264,265],{"url":181,"caption":182},{"url":184,"caption":185},{"url":187,"caption":188},[267],{"url":191,"caption":192},[194],[196],[209,223,224],[226,227,228],[230],[232],{"id":53,"name":275,"code":276,"latitude":277,"longitude":278},"Australia","AU",-25.2744,133.77515,[280,298,316],{"id":226,"publications_id":281,"tags_id":295},{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":165,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"image":198,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":282,"link_internal":283,"link_external":287,"featured":176,"topics":289,"languages":14,"type":290,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":291,"tags":292,"pdf":293,"authors":294},[178],[284,285,286],{"url":181,"caption":182},{"url":184,"caption":185},{"url":187,"caption":188},[288],{"url":191,"caption":192},[194],[196],[209,223,224],[226,227,228],[230],[232],{"id":296,"name":297},1227,"Sanctions",{"id":227,"publications_id":299,"tags_id":313},{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":165,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"image":198,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":300,"link_internal":301,"link_external":305,"featured":176,"topics":307,"languages":14,"type":308,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":309,"tags":310,"pdf":311,"authors":312},[178],[302,303,304],{"url":181,"caption":182},{"url":184,"caption":185},{"url":187,"caption":188},[306],{"url":191,"caption":192},[194],[196],[209,223,224],[226,227,228],[230],[232],{"id":314,"name":315},843,"Asset recovery",{"id":228,"publications_id":317,"tags_id":331},{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":165,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"image":198,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":318,"link_internal":319,"link_external":323,"featured":176,"topics":325,"languages":14,"type":326,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":327,"tags":328,"pdf":329,"authors":330},[178],[320,321,322],{"url":181,"caption":182},{"url":184,"caption":185},{"url":187,"caption":188},[324],{"url":191,"caption":192},[194],[196],[209,223,224],[226,227,228],[230],[232],{"id":4,"name":5},[333],{"id":230,"publications_id":334,"directus_files_id":348},{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":165,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"image":198,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":335,"link_internal":336,"link_external":340,"featured":176,"topics":342,"languages":14,"type":343,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":344,"tags":345,"pdf":346,"authors":347},[178],[337,338,339],{"url":181,"caption":182},{"url":184,"caption":185},{"url":187,"caption":188},[341],{"url":191,"caption":192},[194],[196],[209,223,224],[226,227,228],[230],[232],{"id":349,"storage":25,"filename_disk":350,"filename_download":351,"title":351,"type":352,"folder":353,"uploaded_by":211,"created_on":165,"modified_by":14,"modified_on":165,"charset":14,"filesize":354,"width":14,"height":14,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":355,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":14,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":165},"21b4c9e1-35b4-44db-8e21-edd80b223f22","21b4c9e1-35b4-44db-8e21-edd80b223f22.pdf","QG43-Corruption-sanctions.pdf","application\u002Fpdf","67f22e04-d26f-4baa-b91f-acc5f89d87f5",487332,"Download PDF",[357],{"id":232,"publications_id":358,"authors_id":372},{"id":164,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":165,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":166,"nid":167,"slug":168,"image":198,"title":169,"body":170,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":175,"external":176,"topic":359,"link_internal":360,"link_external":364,"featured":176,"topics":366,"languages":14,"type":367,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":368,"tags":369,"pdf":370,"authors":371},[178],[361,362,363],{"url":181,"caption":182},{"url":184,"caption":185},{"url":187,"caption":188},[365],{"url":191,"caption":192},[194],[196],[209,223,224],[226,227,228],[230],[232],{"id":373,"name":374,"position":14,"image":14},597,"Dr Anton Moiseienko",{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"date_created":377,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":385,"link_external":389,"featured":176,"topics":390,"languages":391,"type":392,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"image":395,"countries":405,"tags":476,"pdf":503,"authors":540},2436,"2026-06-01T22:10:25.000Z","2026-06-02T14:08:57.000Z",2970,"wp-62","Working Paper 62: Corruption sanctions: What governments need to know","How can governments respond to serious corruption when those responsible are beyond the reach of the law? Some governments have turned to corruption sanctions to address this issue.\n\nThis Working Paper examines how corruption sanctions – tools that allow governments to impose asset freezes and travel bans on individuals suspected of corruption without any finding of guilt in a court – have evolved over the past decade, and offers recommendations for their more effective and legitimate use.\n\n::: button https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2026-05\u002F260529_WP-62.pdf\n**Download the Working Paper here**\n:::\n\n### Advantages and limitations of corruption sanctions\n\nCorruption sanctions emerged primarily to address situations where notoriously corrupt individuals enjoy impunity within their own legal systems. Their key strengths lie in their flexibility and versatility:\n\n- they can be applied regardless of any geographical link between the sanctioning state and the alleged corruption, based on relatively low evidentiary thresholds; and \n- they can serve a wide range of objectives – from disrupting and deterring corrupt activity to condemning corruption, facilitating asset recovery and signalling support for another country's law enforcement efforts.\n\nHowever, the paper also highlights important limitations. Corruption sanctions are often wielded without a clear post-imposition strategy. And: their inherent flexibility comes with due process trade-offs, including broad governmental discretion and limited judicial oversight.\n\n### Recommendations\n\nDrawing on an extensive analysis of the experiences of key jurisdictions – including the US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia – the author puts forward nine recommendations for governments on how to design and maintain credible and effective corruption sanctions regimes. These include publishing clear criteria for high-priority targets, strengthening transparency around licensing and delisting decisions, and exploring sanctions against professional enablers in major financial centres.\n\nThe paper is aimed primarily at policymakers but will also be of interest to anti-corruption activists, private-sector financial crime specialists and academics.\n\n### About this paper\n\nThis paper is published as part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper series, ISSN: 2624-9650. You may share or republish it under a Creative Commons [BY-NC-ND 4.0](https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002Fdeed.en) International Licence.\n\nThis is a publication of the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) at the Basel Institute on Governance. ICAR receives core funding from the Governments of Jersey, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the UK.\n\nThe contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Basel Institute on Governance, its donors and partners, or the University of Basel.\n","Moiseienko, Anton. 2026. “Corruption sanctions: What governments need to know.” Working Paper 62, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-62","2026-05-28",[386],{"url":387,"caption":388},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Working%20Paper","View all Working Papers",[],[194],[172],[393],"Working Paper","Corruption sanctions allow governments to impose financial and travel\nrestrictions, such as asset freezes and visa bans, on persons (mostly foreigners)\nsuspected of corruption without any finding of guilt in a court of law. Such\nsanctions have emerged over the past decade primarily to address situations\nwhere notoriously corrupt individuals enjoy impunity within their own legal\nsystems. They are also occasionally used to support foreign investigations by\nenabling authorities to swiftly freeze suspected proceeds of corruption.\n\n### Advantages\nCorruption sanctions regimes offer two main advantages that make them a useful\naddition to a government’s anti-corruption arsenal: flexibility and versatility.\n\nThe flexibility of corruption sanctions stems from the relatively low evidentiary\nstandards required to implement them, which are far less exacting than\nthe civil or criminal standards of proof. It also reflects there being no need\nfor any geographical nexus between the sanctioning state and the alleged\ncorruption, such that sanctions can be wielded against anyone involved in\ncorruption anywhere in the world. These features allow governments to resort\nto corruption sanctions in circumstances where conventional law enforcement\naction, such as prosecutions or confiscation proceedings, would be out of\nreach.\n\nThe versatility of such sanctions is a product of the freedom that governments\nenjoy in their imposition. Corruption sanctions can be, and have been, put\nto use to achieve a varied set of objectives. Those include disrupting corrupt\nactivity; deterring would-be corruption or corruption facilitation; condemning\ncorruption; punishing the perpetrators; facilitating asset recovery; or signalling\nsupport for another country’s law enforcement actions.\n\n### Limitations\nThis flexibility and versatility combine to produce a unique and valuable anticorruption tool. However, all too often it is wielded without a clear post-imposition\nstrategy, namely a coherent and credible approach to what the sanctions are\nmeant to achieve once they are in effect; how long they will be kept in place;\nand how they interact with other available law enforcement tools. In some cases,\nthe imposition of sanctions may be predicated on the expectation that other\nmeasures – such as asset confiscation – will follow. In others, they may be a selfstanding response to allegations of serious corruption.\n\nThe inherent flexibility in these tools also comes with due process trade-offs.\nCorruption sanctions regimes grant governments broad powers, including a\nwide discretion in imposing and lifting corruption sanctions or granting licences\nfor transactions that would otherwise be prohibited under such sanctions.\nThese powers are often subject only to light-touch judicial oversight. This has\nunderstandably raised concerns over their vulnerability to errors or, in extreme\ncases, abuse.\n\nTo ensure consistent and credible use of corruption sanctions, policymakers\nshould review applicable evidentiary standards and judicial review rules;\npublish clear criteria outlining what makes for a high-priority target for\ncorruption sanctions; publish clear criteria for sanctions licences and delisting;\nand set out processes and expectations for sanctions dossier submissions from\ncivil society organisations. While all of these measures preserve governments’\nflexibility in the imposition of corruption sanctions, taken together they will go\nsome way towards minimising the risks of politicisation or abuse.\n\n### A useful addition to the anti-corruption toolbox\nAll in all, corruption sanctions have transformed and enriched the anticorruption enforcement landscape. Their evident advantages suggest that\nstates that have not yet done so should consider whether the introduction of\ncorruption sanctions is right for them, and that those states that already have a\nmechanism in place should explore how they can use it to the greatest effect.\nSometimes, governments are reluctant to make full use of corruption sanctions\nfor fears of foreign policy repercussions. But, as the analysis in this paper\nsuggests, such sensitivities can be managed through careful target selection.\n\nIn summary, if designed and implemented transparently and responsibly – not\nas a low-cost substitute for traditional enforcement tools but as a complement\nto them when they are not available – these mechanisms can be used to target\nand challenge otherwise unchecked corruption globally. The analysis in this\npaper, and the recommendations it contains in its conclusion, aim to support\nthis endeavour.",{"id":396,"storage":25,"filename_disk":397,"filename_download":398,"title":399,"type":202,"created_on":400,"modified_on":400,"charset":14,"filesize":401,"width":402,"height":403,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":404,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":400},"0b54d63b-364d-478e-b7a6-29c8a4f6333b","0b54d63b-364d-478e-b7a6-29c8a4f6333b.jpg","WP62_Corruption-sanctions_cover.jpg","Working Paper 62_Corruption sanctions_cover","2026-06-01T22:18:26.000Z",111668,1265,1790,{},[406,433,450,463],{"id":407,"publications_id":408,"countries_id":427},1152,{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":409,"link_external":411,"featured":176,"topics":412,"languages":413,"type":414,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":415,"tags":419,"pdf":422,"authors":425},[410],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],1153,1154,1155,[420,421],5209,5210,[423,424],2490,2491,[426],2627,{"id":428,"name":429,"code":430,"latitude":431,"longitude":432},228,"United States","US",37.09024,-95.71289,{"id":416,"publications_id":434,"countries_id":445},{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":435,"link_external":437,"featured":176,"topics":438,"languages":439,"type":440,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":441,"tags":442,"pdf":443,"authors":444},[436],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],[420,421],[423,424],[426],{"id":71,"name":446,"code":447,"latitude":448,"longitude":449},"United Kingdom","GB",55.37805,-3.43597,{"id":417,"publications_id":451,"countries_id":462},{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":452,"link_external":454,"featured":176,"topics":455,"languages":456,"type":457,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":458,"tags":459,"pdf":460,"authors":461},[453],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],[420,421],[423,424],[426],{"id":47,"name":255,"code":256,"latitude":257,"longitude":258},{"id":418,"publications_id":464,"countries_id":475},{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":465,"link_external":467,"featured":176,"topics":468,"languages":469,"type":470,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":471,"tags":472,"pdf":473,"authors":474},[466],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],[420,421],[423,424],[426],{"id":53,"name":275,"code":276,"latitude":277,"longitude":278},[477,490],{"id":420,"publications_id":478,"tags_id":489},{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":479,"link_external":481,"featured":176,"topics":482,"languages":483,"type":484,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":485,"tags":486,"pdf":487,"authors":488},[480],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],[420,421],[423,424],[426],{"id":314,"name":315},{"id":421,"publications_id":491,"tags_id":502},{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":492,"link_external":494,"featured":176,"topics":495,"languages":496,"type":497,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":498,"tags":499,"pdf":500,"authors":501},[493],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],[420,421],[423,424],[426],{"id":4,"name":5},[504,522],{"id":423,"publications_id":505,"directus_files_id":516},{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":506,"link_external":508,"featured":176,"topics":509,"languages":510,"type":511,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":512,"tags":513,"pdf":514,"authors":515},[507],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],[420,421],[423,424],[426],{"id":517,"storage":25,"filename_disk":518,"filename_download":519,"title":355,"type":352,"folder":353,"uploaded_by":212,"created_on":520,"modified_by":14,"modified_on":520,"charset":14,"filesize":521,"width":14,"height":14,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":355,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":14,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":520},"0b759fd3-2684-40a1-8527-0a3aec44be48","0b759fd3-2684-40a1-8527-0a3aec44be48.pdf","260529-WP-62.pdf","2026-06-01T22:34:25.000Z",1505105,{"id":424,"publications_id":523,"directus_files_id":534},{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":524,"link_external":526,"featured":176,"topics":527,"languages":528,"type":529,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":530,"tags":531,"pdf":532,"authors":533},[525],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],[420,421],[423,424],[426],{"id":535,"storage":25,"filename_disk":536,"filename_download":537,"title":538,"type":352,"folder":353,"uploaded_by":212,"created_on":520,"modified_by":14,"modified_on":520,"charset":14,"filesize":539,"width":14,"height":14,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":538,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":14,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":520},"0c642f37-01e4-4669-a4c1-000c5f0c3088","0c642f37-01e4-4669-a4c1-000c5f0c3088.pdf","WP62-key-insights.pdf","Swipe through key insights",1215834,[541],{"id":426,"publications_id":542,"authors_id":553},{"id":376,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":378,"nid":379,"slug":380,"image":396,"title":381,"body":382,"citation":383,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":174,"date_published":384,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":543,"link_external":545,"featured":176,"topics":546,"languages":547,"type":548,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":394,"subtitle":14,"countries":549,"tags":550,"pdf":551,"authors":552},[544],{"url":387,"caption":388},[],[194],[172],[393],[407,416,417,418],[420,421],[423,424],[426],{"id":554,"name":555,"position":14,"image":14},583,"Anton Moiseienko",{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"date_created":377,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":563,"link_external":564,"featured":176,"topics":568,"languages":570,"type":571,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"image":573,"countries":582,"tags":609,"pdf":636,"authors":654},2437,2960,"evolution-corruption-and-crimes-kapitan-andreevo-border-checkpoint-impact-eu-accession","The Evolution of Corruption and Crimes at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint: The Impact of EU Accession","Published in the _Journal of Illicit Trade, Financial Crime, and Compliance_, this article examines how Bulgaria’s 2007 accession to the European Union transformed illegal activities and corruption at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint.\n\nWhile the introduction of stricter EU regulations and advanced surveillance technology aimed to secure the border, these measures had the effect of transforming criminal strategies and corruption. The authors detail a shift from blatant smuggling to more sophisticated financial frauds, VAT carousel schemes and the illicit privatisation of public border functions.\n\nThe article highlights that in some cases, it was the bribery schemes that evolved to bypass new standards. In other cases – particularly involving drug trafficking and the smuggling of human beings – it was the criminal strategies that transformed, including advanced concealment methods or new smuggling routes.\n\nThe study also offers a nuanced perspective on the relationship between corruption and criminal activites at border checkpoints: stronger capacity to counter criminal activities could lead to an increase in the risk of corruption, while a more coherent anti corruption framework could trigger criminal activities to evolve. Ultimately, the article argues that anti-crime and anti-corruption policies must account for this evolutionary nature.","2026-05-01",[],[565],{"url":566,"caption":567},"https:\u002F\u002Fjitfccjournal.com\u002Findex.php\u002Fjitfcc\u002Farticle\u002Fview\u002F16","View on Journal website",[569],"Prevention Research and Innovation",[172],[572],"Article",{"id":574,"storage":25,"filename_disk":575,"filename_download":576,"title":576,"type":202,"created_on":577,"modified_on":577,"charset":14,"filesize":578,"width":579,"height":580,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":581,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":577},"2a662dae-21a7-4e84-971d-1c8a70f4754b","2a662dae-21a7-4e84-971d-1c8a70f4754b.jpg","JITFCC_Vol2-2026_Kapitan-Andreevo-BCP_Impact-of-EU-accession_cover.jpg","2026-06-01T22:18:27.000Z",323412,1701,2201,{},[583],{"id":584,"publications_id":585,"countries_id":603},1156,{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"image":574,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":586,"link_external":587,"featured":176,"topics":589,"languages":590,"type":591,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":592,"tags":593,"pdf":596,"authors":598},[],[588],{"url":566,"caption":567},[569],[172],[572],[584],[594,595],5211,5212,[597],2492,[599,600,601,602],2628,2629,2630,2631,{"id":604,"name":605,"code":606,"latitude":607,"longitude":608},22,"Bulgaria","BG",42.73388,25.48583,[610,623],{"id":594,"publications_id":611,"tags_id":622},{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"image":574,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":612,"link_external":613,"featured":176,"topics":615,"languages":616,"type":617,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":618,"tags":619,"pdf":620,"authors":621},[],[614],{"url":566,"caption":567},[569],[172],[572],[584],[594,595],[597],[599,600,601,602],{"id":117,"name":118},{"id":595,"publications_id":624,"tags_id":635},{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"image":574,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":625,"link_external":626,"featured":176,"topics":628,"languages":629,"type":630,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":631,"tags":632,"pdf":633,"authors":634},[],[627],{"url":566,"caption":567},[569],[172],[572],[584],[594,595],[597],[599,600,601,602],{"id":4,"name":5},[637],{"id":597,"publications_id":638,"directus_files_id":649},{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"image":574,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":639,"link_external":640,"featured":176,"topics":642,"languages":643,"type":644,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":645,"tags":646,"pdf":647,"authors":648},[],[641],{"url":566,"caption":567},[569],[172],[572],[584],[594,595],[597],[599,600,601,602],{"id":650,"storage":25,"filename_disk":651,"filename_download":652,"title":355,"type":352,"folder":353,"uploaded_by":212,"created_on":520,"modified_by":14,"modified_on":520,"charset":14,"filesize":653,"width":14,"height":14,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":355,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":14,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":520},"f4dc810d-6a45-47c3-ac38-970f08711caf","f4dc810d-6a45-47c3-ac38-970f08711caf.pdf","JITFCC-Vol2-2026-Kapitan-Andreevo-BCP-Impact-of-EU-accession.pdf",540684,[655,671,687,702],{"id":599,"publications_id":656,"authors_id":667},{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"image":574,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":657,"link_external":658,"featured":176,"topics":660,"languages":661,"type":662,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":663,"tags":664,"pdf":665,"authors":666},[],[659],{"url":566,"caption":567},[569],[172],[572],[584],[594,595],[597],[599,600,601,602],{"id":668,"name":669,"position":14,"image":670},304,"Jacopo Costa","90469998-3598-471d-9499-48b19f557c7d",{"id":600,"publications_id":672,"authors_id":683},{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"image":574,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":673,"link_external":674,"featured":176,"topics":676,"languages":677,"type":678,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":679,"tags":680,"pdf":681,"authors":682},[],[675],{"url":566,"caption":567},[569],[172],[572],[584],[594,595],[597],[599,600,601,602],{"id":684,"name":685,"position":14,"image":686},295,"Claudia Baez Camargo","efaca248-6b57-4e2e-af40-614056eb022c",{"id":601,"publications_id":688,"authors_id":699},{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"image":574,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":689,"link_external":690,"featured":176,"topics":692,"languages":693,"type":694,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":695,"tags":696,"pdf":697,"authors":698},[],[691],{"url":566,"caption":567},[569],[172],[572],[584],[594,595],[597],[599,600,601,602],{"id":700,"name":701,"position":14,"image":14},584,"Noémi Jäger",{"id":602,"publications_id":703,"authors_id":714},{"id":557,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":377,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":520,"nid":558,"slug":559,"image":574,"title":560,"body":561,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":14,"date_published":562,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":704,"link_external":705,"featured":176,"topics":707,"languages":708,"type":709,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":710,"tags":711,"pdf":712,"authors":713},[],[706],{"url":566,"caption":567},[569],[172],[572],[584],[594,595],[597],[599,600,601,602],{"id":715,"name":716,"position":14,"image":717},303,"Saba Kassa","a34de431-6c31-4ddd-8727-12c10dfed9ad",{"id":719,"status":13,"sort":14,"date_created":720,"date_updated":721,"nid":722,"slug":723,"title":724,"body":725,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":726,"date_published":727,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":728,"link_external":735,"featured":176,"topics":739,"languages":740,"type":741,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"image":743,"countries":753,"tags":754,"pdf":788,"authors":809},2444,"2026-06-01T22:10:26.000Z","2026-06-02T14:08:58.000Z",2946,"recommendations-combatting-border-corruption-falcon-policy-brief","Recommendations for combatting border corruption (FALCON Policy Brief)","Corruption at borders poses a significant threat to the integrity of the European Union’s external borders, undermining security, trust, and governance. And border corruption is not static — it evolves in response to new controls, technologies and enforcement strategies. This means that even well-designed measures may lose effectiveness over time.\n\nA new Policy Brief by the FALCON (Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) project outlines actionable recommendations for EU policymakers and officials involved preventing and combatting border corruption.\n\nThe brief identifies four priority areas:\n\nreducing discretionary face-to-face interactions at border crossing points through digitalisation;\\\ndeveloping harmonised, risk-based digital infrastructures that can detect corruption-prone patterns;\\\nlimiting manual data handling to close opportunities for manipulation; and\\\nstrengthening the conceptual alignment between anti-trafficking and anti-corruption strategies.\n\nIt argues that effective reform requires corruption-sensitive implementation frameworks, enhanced inter-agency coordination and a shift toward anticipatory governance.\n\nThe Basel Institute on Governance is an associated partner of the FALCON project. [Jacopo Costa](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fabout-us\u002Fpeople\u002Fdr-jacopo-costa) contributed to the Policy Brief and related research.\n\n_FALCON is funded under the Horizon Europe Framework Program Grant Agreement ID 101121281. The Basel Institute on Governance receives funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)._","FALCON - Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks","2026-03-25",[729,732],{"url":730,"caption":731},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg38","Related Quick Guide to border corruption",{"url":733,"caption":734},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-58","Related Working Paper on corruption at the port of Rotterdam",[736],{"url":737,"caption":738},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.falcon-horizon.eu\u002F2026\u002F03\u002Ffalcon-policy-brief-recommendations-for-combatting-border-corruption\u002F","Related FALCON news",[569],[172],[742],"Report",{"id":744,"storage":25,"filename_disk":745,"filename_download":746,"title":747,"type":202,"created_on":748,"modified_on":748,"charset":14,"filesize":749,"width":750,"height":751,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":752,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":748},"bc5fa519-a9aa-472c-aed6-91849cddb2aa","bc5fa519-a9aa-472c-aed6-91849cddb2aa.jpg","2026_03_18-FALCON-Policy-Brief-04_Border-Corruption_Cover-page.jpg","FALCON Policy Brief 4 on border corruption_cover page","2026-06-01T22:18:31.000Z",327770,1654,2327,{},[],[755,773],{"id":756,"publications_id":757,"tags_id":772},5230,{"id":719,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":720,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":721,"nid":722,"slug":723,"image":744,"title":724,"body":725,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":726,"date_published":727,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":758,"link_external":761,"featured":176,"topics":763,"languages":764,"type":765,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":766,"tags":767,"pdf":769,"authors":771},[759,760],{"url":730,"caption":731},{"url":733,"caption":734},[762],{"url":737,"caption":738},[569],[172],[742],[],[756,768],5231,[770],2498,[],{"id":117,"name":118},{"id":768,"publications_id":774,"tags_id":787},{"id":719,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":720,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":721,"nid":722,"slug":723,"image":744,"title":724,"body":725,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":726,"date_published":727,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":775,"link_external":778,"featured":176,"topics":780,"languages":781,"type":782,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":783,"tags":784,"pdf":785,"authors":786},[776,777],{"url":730,"caption":731},{"url":733,"caption":734},[779],{"url":737,"caption":738},[569],[172],[742],[],[756,768],[770],[],{"id":4,"name":5},[789],{"id":770,"publications_id":790,"directus_files_id":803},{"id":719,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":212,"date_created":720,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":721,"nid":722,"slug":723,"image":744,"title":724,"body":725,"citation":14,"language":14,"year":173,"publisher":726,"date_published":727,"external":176,"topic":14,"link_internal":791,"link_external":794,"featured":176,"topics":796,"languages":797,"type":798,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":14,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":799,"tags":800,"pdf":801,"authors":802},[792,793],{"url":730,"caption":731},{"url":733,"caption":734},[795],{"url":737,"caption":738},[569],[172],[742],[],[756,768],[770],[],{"id":804,"storage":25,"filename_disk":805,"filename_download":806,"title":355,"type":352,"folder":353,"uploaded_by":212,"created_on":807,"modified_by":14,"modified_on":807,"charset":14,"filesize":808,"width":14,"height":14,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":355,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":14,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":807},"f9d137b9-84ae-4b9d-b28b-378db8754489","f9d137b9-84ae-4b9d-b28b-378db8754489.pdf","2026-03-18-FALCON-Policy-Brief-04-Recommendations-for-Combatting-Border-Corruption.pdf","2026-06-01T22:34:27.000Z",174455,[],{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"date_created":812,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":820,"link_internal":822,"link_external":823,"featured":176,"topics":830,"languages":14,"type":831,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"image":833,"countries":840,"tags":872,"pdf":967,"authors":987},2433,"2026-02-27T15:11:31.000Z","2026-05-23T20:08:18.000Z",2936,"addressing-conflicts-interest-and-corruption-indonesias-energy-transition","Addressing conflicts of interest and corruption in Indonesia’s energy transition","This U4 Issue analyses Indonesia's ambitious energy transition and highlights how political finance, weak regulations and a \"revolving door\" of personnel between public office and the private sector create vulnerabilities. The publication was produced by U4 and the Basel Institute on Governance through its Green Corruption programme.\n\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2026-02\u002FAddressing-conflicts-of-interest-and-corruption-in-indonesia-s-energy-transition_U4-Issue.pdf\">Download publication here\u003C\u002Fa>.\n\n### About the paper\n\nConflicts of interest and corruption in Indonesia's political economy pose significant risks to its energy transition, including the Just Energy Transition Partnership. Existing legal and institutional frameworks are fragmented, inconsistently applied, and often fail to address the risk of state capture by powerful political and economic actors, especially in the extractive and energy sectors.\n\nThe reliance on fossil fuel industries for political financing and the monopolistic nature of state-owned entities further complicate the shift to a low- or no-carbon system, despite the country's ambitious renewable energy targets.\n\nPotential pathways to greater anti-corruption resilience lie in improvements to beneficial ownership transparency and strengthening regulation, monitoring and sanctioning of conflict of interest violations.\n","U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre","2026-02-24",[821],"Green Corruption",[],[824,827],{"url":825,"caption":826},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.u4.no\u002Fpublications\u002Faddressing-conflicts-of-interest-and-corruption-in-indonesia-s-energy-transition"," View on U4 website",{"url":828,"caption":829},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.u4.no\u002Fblog\u002Fimproving-anti-corruption-resilience-in-indonesia-s-energy-transition"," Read related U4 blog",[821],[742],"- Corruption and conflicts of interest are embedded in the energy transition process due to the strong links between political power, private wealth (especially from extractive industries) and public office holders.\n- Existing anti-corruption regulations are often vague, fragmented across different legal instruments, and suffer from inconsistent enforcement, which creates loopholes susceptible to manipulation.\n- Progress in renewable energy uptake is slowed by the enduring influence and interests of fossil fuel incumbents who benefit from subsidies that keep coal an artificially cheap and viable energy source.\n- The Just Energy Transition Partnership is vulnerable to misallocations due to concentrated decision-making power, limited transparency in project selection and insufficient involvement of national anti-corruption bodies and civil society in its planning.\n- Improving transparency of beneficial ownership and strengthening the monitoring and sanctioning of conflict of interest violations are possible pathways to build greater anti-corruption resilience, though these institutional efforts alone are insufficient to fully address state capture dynamics.",{"id":834,"storage":25,"filename_disk":835,"filename_download":836,"title":837,"type":202,"created_on":812,"modified_on":812,"charset":14,"filesize":838,"width":204,"height":205,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":839,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":812},"d97f2ca5-300d-45c9-9de9-33152b72f96c","d97f2ca5-300d-45c9-9de9-33152b72f96c.jpg?itok=yzE-1mVj","Addressing-CoI-and-corruption-in-indonesias-energy-transition-U4-Issue-cover.jpg?itok=yzE-1mVj","U4 Issue cover: Addressing conflicts of interest and corruption in Indonesia's energy transition",43663,{},[841],{"id":842,"publications_id":843,"countries_id":866},1149,{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":844,"link_internal":845,"link_external":846,"featured":176,"topics":849,"languages":14,"type":850,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":851,"tags":852,"pdf":859,"authors":861},[821],[],[847,848],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],4683,4692,4693,4694,4695,4696,[860],2489,[862,863,864,865],2621,2622,2623,2624,{"id":867,"name":868,"code":869,"latitude":870,"longitude":871},99,"Indonesia","ID",-0.78927,113.92133,[873,887,903,919,935,951],{"id":853,"publications_id":874,"tags_id":886},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":875,"link_internal":876,"link_external":877,"featured":176,"topics":880,"languages":14,"type":881,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":882,"tags":883,"pdf":884,"authors":885},[821],[],[878,879],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":4,"name":5},{"id":854,"publications_id":888,"tags_id":900},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":889,"link_internal":890,"link_external":891,"featured":176,"topics":894,"languages":14,"type":895,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":896,"tags":897,"pdf":898,"authors":899},[821],[],[892,893],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":901,"name":902},818,"Anti-money laundering",{"id":855,"publications_id":904,"tags_id":916},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":905,"link_internal":906,"link_external":907,"featured":176,"topics":910,"languages":14,"type":911,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":912,"tags":913,"pdf":914,"authors":915},[821],[],[908,909],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":917,"name":918},804,"Natural resources",{"id":856,"publications_id":920,"tags_id":932},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":921,"link_internal":922,"link_external":923,"featured":176,"topics":926,"languages":14,"type":927,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":928,"tags":929,"pdf":930,"authors":931},[821],[],[924,925],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":933,"name":934},1371,"Public governance",{"id":857,"publications_id":936,"tags_id":948},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":937,"link_internal":938,"link_external":939,"featured":176,"topics":942,"languages":14,"type":943,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":944,"tags":945,"pdf":946,"authors":947},[821],[],[940,941],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":949,"name":950},1236,"Compliance",{"id":858,"publications_id":952,"tags_id":964},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":953,"link_internal":954,"link_external":955,"featured":176,"topics":958,"languages":14,"type":959,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":960,"tags":961,"pdf":962,"authors":963},[821],[],[956,957],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":965,"name":966},973,"Corruption",[968],{"id":860,"publications_id":969,"directus_files_id":981},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":970,"link_internal":971,"link_external":972,"featured":176,"topics":975,"languages":14,"type":976,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":977,"tags":978,"pdf":979,"authors":980},[821],[],[973,974],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":982,"storage":25,"filename_disk":983,"filename_download":984,"title":984,"type":352,"folder":353,"uploaded_by":211,"created_on":985,"modified_by":14,"modified_on":985,"charset":14,"filesize":986,"width":14,"height":14,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":355,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":14,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":985},"a3bd53b9-57e5-4e9b-b70c-810e7de5fffa","a3bd53b9-57e5-4e9b-b70c-810e7de5fffa.pdf","Addressing-conflicts-of-interest-and-corruption-in-indonesia-s-energy-transition-U4-Issue.pdf","2026-02-27T15:11:32.000Z",647304,[988,1004,1020,1036],{"id":862,"publications_id":989,"authors_id":1001},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":990,"link_internal":991,"link_external":992,"featured":176,"topics":995,"languages":14,"type":996,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":997,"tags":998,"pdf":999,"authors":1000},[821],[],[993,994],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":1002,"name":1003,"position":14,"image":14},581,"Robert Forster",{"id":863,"publications_id":1005,"authors_id":1017},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":1006,"link_internal":1007,"link_external":1008,"featured":176,"topics":1011,"languages":14,"type":1012,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":1013,"tags":1014,"pdf":1015,"authors":1016},[821],[],[1009,1010],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":1018,"name":1019,"position":14,"image":14},582,"Aled Williams",{"id":864,"publications_id":1021,"authors_id":1033},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":1022,"link_internal":1023,"link_external":1024,"featured":176,"topics":1027,"languages":14,"type":1028,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":1029,"tags":1030,"pdf":1031,"authors":1032},[821],[],[1025,1026],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":1034,"name":1035,"position":14,"image":14},523,"Lakso Anindito",{"id":865,"publications_id":1037,"authors_id":1049},{"id":811,"status":13,"sort":14,"user_created":211,"date_created":812,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":813,"nid":814,"slug":815,"image":834,"title":816,"body":817,"citation":171,"language":172,"year":173,"publisher":818,"date_published":819,"external":176,"topic":1038,"link_internal":1039,"link_external":1040,"featured":176,"topics":1043,"languages":14,"type":1044,"area":14,"programme":14,"websites":14,"summary":14,"pdf_text":14,"main_points":832,"short_version":14,"subtitle":14,"countries":1045,"tags":1046,"pdf":1047,"authors":1048},[821],[],[1041,1042],{"url":825,"caption":826},{"url":828,"caption":829},[821],[742],[842],[853,854,855,856,857,858],[860],[862,863,864,865],{"id":1050,"name":1051,"position":14,"image":14},579,"Dr Amanda Cabrejo le Roux",92,{"items":1054,"total":1677},[1055,1172,1294,1372,1549],{"id":1056,"status":13,"date_created":1057,"date_updated":1058,"title":1059,"type":1060,"body":1061,"date":1062,"topic":1063,"slug":1064,"activity":1065,"nid":1068,"topics":1069,"activities":1070,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"language":172,"image":1071,"translation_of":14,"countries":1079,"tags":1112,"authors":1152,"images":1169,"translations":1170,"content":1171},10611,"2026-06-04T21:13:40.000Z","2026-06-04T21:13:41.000Z","Holding the corrupt to account: the promise and potential of corruption sanctions","Blog","When states fail to hold corrupt actors to account, ordinary citizens pay the price. Corruption sanctions were born from the idea that no one should be above the law, no matter where they are in the world. In a new Working Paper, Dr Anton Moiseienko explores how these tools have evolved and offers recommendations for their more effective and legitimate use.\n\nHere we share the foreword to his paper by the Basel Institute's Andrew Dornbierer, Head of Policy and Research, International Centre for Asset Recovery.\n\n> ### Foreword\n> \n> Every state has an obligation to investigate and prosecute corruption within their jurisdiction. Unfortunately, many states around the world are not willing to fulfil this responsibility.\n> \n> As a result, the very individuals within these states tasked with serving the public interest are instead given free rein to commit acts that not only serve themselves but also corrode the fabric of the state. And ordinary citizens have no alternative but to endure the ensuing economic and social damage.\n> \n> The development of sanctions tools targeting corruption stemmed from the idea that justice should be universal; that no one in any society around the world should be above the law.\n> \n> They are powerful tools, built on powerful principles. States introducing them understand that unchecked corruption will always suffocate a state’s ability to provide security, fairness and prosperity to its citizens.\n> \n> Comparatively though, corruption sanctions are still an underdeveloped concept and are far from perfect. Only a handful of states have introduced them, and those that have are not often using them to their full potential.\n> \n> They also spark valid concerns surrounding due process. These criticisms shouldn’t be ignored: they offer an insight on how these tools could be further developed and enhanced to ensure that they are more credibly and consistently applied.\n> \n> In his paper, Anton Moiseienko provides an excellent and well-researched overview of how corruption sanctions could be designed and employed to better achieve their potential. He explains how these tools have evolved over the last two decades and how they could be further refined to be more effective and achieve a wider range of impact.\n> \n> Critically, his paper is an indispensable resource for those looking to understand exactly how such sanctions can help states deter, disrupt and debilitate the notoriously corrupt that are unreachable through standard criminal justice tools.\n\n### Learn more\n\n*   Read Dr Anton Moiseienko’s Working Paper “[Corruption sanctions: What governments need to know](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-62)” for a deeper analysis of the topic and key policy recommendations.\n*   Get a brief introduction to corruption sanctions from our related [Quick Guide](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg43).\n*   Register for our public webinar \"[Corruption sanctions – reaching those beyond the law](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fnode\u002F2968)\" on 18 June 2026, marking the launch of Dr Moiseienko's Working Paper.","2026-06-03",[178],"holding-the-corrupt-to-account-the-promise-and-potential-of-corruption-sanctions-2979",[1066,1067],"Reports","Insights",2979,[178],[1066,1067],{"id":1072,"storage":25,"filename_disk":1073,"filename_download":1074,"title":1059,"type":29,"created_on":1057,"modified_on":1057,"charset":14,"filesize":1075,"width":1076,"height":1077,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":1078,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":1057},"9f5fad98-9243-40da-98d0-1271edd00df2","9f5fad98-9243-40da-98d0-1271edd00df2.webp","tmp.webp",13600,800,453,{},[1080,1099],{"id":1081,"news_id":1082,"countries_id":1098},7808,{"id":1056,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1057,"user_updated":211,"date_updated":1058,"title":1059,"type":1060,"body":1061,"image":1072,"date":1062,"topic":1083,"slug":1064,"activity":1084,"nid":1068,"topics":1085,"activities":1086,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1087,"tags":1089,"authors":1093,"images":1095,"translations":1096,"content":1097},[178],[1066,1067],[178],[1066,1067],[1081,1088],7809,[1090,1091,1092],5995,5996,5997,[1094],1372,[],[],[],{"id":53,"name":275,"code":276,"latitude":277,"longitude":278},{"id":1088,"news_id":1100,"countries_id":1111},{"id":1056,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1057,"user_updated":211,"date_updated":1058,"title":1059,"type":1060,"body":1061,"image":1072,"date":1062,"topic":1101,"slug":1064,"activity":1102,"nid":1068,"topics":1103,"activities":1104,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1105,"tags":1106,"authors":1107,"images":1108,"translations":1109,"content":1110},[178],[1066,1067],[178],[1066,1067],[1081,1088],[1090,1091,1092],[1094],[],[],[],{"id":47,"name":255,"code":256,"latitude":257,"longitude":258},[1113,1126,1139],{"id":1090,"news_id":1114,"tags_id":1125},{"id":1056,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1057,"user_updated":211,"date_updated":1058,"title":1059,"type":1060,"body":1061,"image":1072,"date":1062,"topic":1115,"slug":1064,"activity":1116,"nid":1068,"topics":1117,"activities":1118,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1119,"tags":1120,"authors":1121,"images":1122,"translations":1123,"content":1124},[178],[1066,1067],[178],[1066,1067],[1081,1088],[1090,1091,1092],[1094],[],[],[],{"id":296,"name":297},{"id":1091,"news_id":1127,"tags_id":1138},{"id":1056,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1057,"user_updated":211,"date_updated":1058,"title":1059,"type":1060,"body":1061,"image":1072,"date":1062,"topic":1128,"slug":1064,"activity":1129,"nid":1068,"topics":1130,"activities":1131,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1132,"tags":1133,"authors":1134,"images":1135,"translations":1136,"content":1137},[178],[1066,1067],[178],[1066,1067],[1081,1088],[1090,1091,1092],[1094],[],[],[],{"id":314,"name":315},{"id":1092,"news_id":1140,"tags_id":1151},{"id":1056,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1057,"user_updated":211,"date_updated":1058,"title":1059,"type":1060,"body":1061,"image":1072,"date":1062,"topic":1141,"slug":1064,"activity":1142,"nid":1068,"topics":1143,"activities":1144,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1145,"tags":1146,"authors":1147,"images":1148,"translations":1149,"content":1150},[178],[1066,1067],[178],[1066,1067],[1081,1088],[1090,1091,1092],[1094],[],[],[],{"id":4,"name":5},[1153],{"id":1094,"news_id":1154,"authors_id":1165},{"id":1056,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1057,"user_updated":211,"date_updated":1058,"title":1059,"type":1060,"body":1061,"image":1072,"date":1062,"topic":1155,"slug":1064,"activity":1156,"nid":1068,"topics":1157,"activities":1158,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1159,"tags":1160,"authors":1161,"images":1162,"translations":1163,"content":1164},[178],[1066,1067],[178],[1066,1067],[1081,1088],[1090,1091,1092],[1094],[],[],[],{"id":1166,"name":1167,"position":14,"image":1168},306,"Andrew Dornbierer","89aae58b-3e50-4375-9b9b-5b31370dab64",[],[],[],{"id":1173,"status":13,"date_created":1174,"date_updated":1175,"title":1176,"type":1060,"body":1177,"date":1178,"topic":1179,"slug":1182,"activity":1183,"nid":1184,"topics":1185,"activities":1186,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"language":172,"image":1187,"translation_of":14,"countries":1194,"tags":1233,"authors":1275,"images":1291,"translations":1292,"content":1293},10615,"2026-06-04T21:13:44.000Z","2026-06-04T21:14:56.000Z","How stronger borders can create smarter corruption: lessons from one of Europe's most strategic border crossings","When Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, many believed it would lead to more secure, transparent and less corrupt borders. New regulations, infrastructure modernisation and digitalised customs procedures all followed. European standards and money arrived together.\n\nYet corruption did not disappear at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint, the main land crossing between Bulgaria and Türkiye and one of the busiest gateways between Europe and Asia. Instead, it evolved.\n\nThis is the central finding of a recent [article](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fevolution-corruption-and-crimes-kapitan-andreevo-border-checkpoint-impact-eu-accession) by the Prevention, Research and Innovation team of the Basel Institute on Governance – Dr Jacopo Costa, Dr Claudia Baez Camargo, Noémi Jäger and Dr Saba Kassa – published in the _Journal of Illicit Trade, Financial Crime, and Compliance_.\n\nThe article examines how criminal networks, smugglers, businesses and corrupt officials adapted to Bulgaria’s EU integration. It illustrates how corruption behaves like an adaptive ecosystem: when regulations and border control technologies change, corruption changes with them.\n\nA border built for opportunity – legal and illegal\n\nBorder spaces concentrate discretionary power in the hands of customs officers, border guards, inspectors and regulators, while bringing together also traders, transport companies, migrants, smugglers, criminal groups and political actors.\n\nKapitan Andreevo is a particularly instructive case due to its strategic location, with thousands of trucks, travellers and goods passing through the border checkpoint daily.\n\nBefore Bulgaria’s EU accession, corruption at the checkpoint was already deeply embedded. The 1990s brought economic crisis, shortages of consumer goods, weak state capacity and rapidly expanding informal markets. Smuggling became a profitable survival strategy.\n\nBorder officials could be bribed to overlook undeclared goods, counterfeit products and tax evasion. Duty-free shops in the \"no man's land\" between Bulgaria and Türkiye became hubs for smuggling cigarettes, alcohol and petroleum products.\n\nCorruption operated at multiple levels:\n\n*   everyday exchanges between traders, drivers and officials, often based on long-standing personal relationships, at the lower level\n*   connections between politicians, senior civil servants, business elites and organised crime at the higher level.\n\nSmuggling routes required political protection. Profits flowed upward through patronage systems.\n\nEU accession changed the rules of the game\n\nBulgaria’s EU accession radically transformed the legal and institutional environment. The country had to align its customs regulations, VAT rules, excise tax systems, phytosanitary standards and border procedures with EU standards – a gradual process requiring significant investment. The reforms affected almost every aspect of border governance.\n\nCustoms procedures became increasingly digitalised. New systems such as the VAT Information Exchange System (VIES) and the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) improved cross-border monitoring.\n\nPhytosanitary and veterinary inspections became stricter. Migration controls tightened through alignment with Schengen rules and access to systems like the Schengen Information System (SIS) and international databases of stolen documents and vehicles.\n\nMeanwhile, new border control technologies – X-ray machines, scanners, thermal cameras and risk-analysis tools – expanded the state’s capacity to detect illicit activity.\n\nFrom a policy perspective, this appeared to be a modernisation success story. But criminal systems rarely remain static when the environment changes.\n\nCorruption did not decline – it adapted\n\nThe most striking finding is that stronger controls often increase the strategic value of corruption.\n\nAfter EU accession, crossing the border illegally became more difficult, risky and expensive. Corruption became necessary not only to speed up procedures but to bypass sophisticated control and regulatory systems.\n\nIn other words, modernisation transformed the function of corruption: Criminal actors began targeting specialised procedures, such as food safety inspections, VAT systems, automated license plate recognition, laboratory testing and digital customs controls.\n\nVAT fraud and the manipulation of digital systems\n\nVAT fraud illustrates this adaptation clearly. Within the EU, exports are often subject to a VAT rate of 0 (zero) percent, which means companies can reclaim any VAT they have already paid domestically. Criminal actors exploited this through \"carousel fraud\" schemes involving fictitious transactions chains.\n\nAt Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint, for example, corruption allegedly enabled traders to manipulate customs procedures. One method involved corrupt officials manually entering fake truck registrations into customs systems to simulate border crossings, enabling fraudulent VAT refunds for exports that never occurred.\n\nEven more revealing was the manipulation of automated license plate recognition: corrupt actors reportedly disabled automated recognition and manually entered altered plates using Cyrillic characters resembling Latin letters, allowing smugglers to bypass alerts and inspections.\n\nThis illustrates a pattern seen in many modern corruption systems: digitalisation does not automatically eliminate corruption. Instead, corruption turns towards the technological systems themselves.\n\nFood safety, privatisation and rent-seeking\n\nEU food safety and phytosanitary regulations created new bottlenecks and forms of discretionary authority. The research describes two recurring manipulation strategies:\n\n*   selective sampling during inspections, where officials took samples only from \"clean\" sections of shipments; and\n*   falsification of laboratory tests to certify unsafe products as compliant.\n\nThese risks increased after some border functions were outsourced to private companies. At Kapitan Andreevo, food testing, parking operations and vehicle disinfection were privatised. This reform, intended to increase efficiency, allegedly created new opportunities for rent extraction.\n\nThe controversy surrounding Eurolab 2011, which reportedly obtained monopolistic control over food safety testing under questionable legal arrangements became emblematic of these tensions.\n\nThe broader implication: privatisation of public functions does not necessarily reduce corruption risks. It can shift them into hybrid public-private arrangements where accountability is weaker and oversight is more fragmented.\n\nThe rise of “routinised” corruption\n\nThe study highlights the increased organisation of corruption itself. Today, no single official can independently guarantee a smuggling route. Procedures involve multiple agencies, overlapping inspections and layered oversight.\n\nAs a result, corruption evolved towards collective coordination. Customs officers, border guards, supervisors, intermediaries and sometimes political actors participate in networks where bribes are pooled and redistributed.\n\nThese schemes resemble coordinated organisational systems with revenue-sharing mechanisms, internal hierarchies and protection structures rather than isolated rogue actors.\n\nThis reflects an important conceptual change: border corruption can function as an embedded institutional ecosystem sustained through cooperation, mutual dependence and political protection.\n\nDrug trafficking: when corruption becomes too risky\n\nInterestingly, corruption is not always the preferred strategy. In drug trafficking, for example, the risks are dramatically higher. Border officials caught facilitating drug trafficking could face severe criminal penalties, including organised crime charges and lengthy prison sentences.\n\nAs a result, traffickers increasingly invest in sophisticated concealment methods. One example is the \"twin trucks\" strategy: several nearly identical trucks carrying similar cargo cross the border simultaneously during heavy traffic, with only one of them containing drugs. Since inspection capacity is limited, the probability is high that the \"clean\" trucks are checked while the drug shipment passes undetected.\n\nThis shows that corruption and criminality do not always go hand in hand. Sometimes, stronger anti-corruption measures push criminals towards deception and concealment rather than bribery.\n\nThe bigger lesson: criminal systems are adaptive\n\nThe case study of the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing is not just about Bulgaria. Policymakers often assume that more technology, controls and regulation will automatically reduce corruption and illicit trade.\n\nBut criminal systems and corruption adapt. Informal networks reorganise around the vulnerabilities created by reforms. Every regulatory innovation creates new incentives, bottlenecks and opportunities for exploitation.\n\nThis does not mean reforms are useless. Many EU measures have clearly strengthened border management. However, reforms must be designed with an understanding of adaptive behaviour. Otherwise, states risk producing unintended consequences: stronger incentives for bribery, use of alternative trafficking routes, technological manipulation, new forms of collusion or opaque privatisation structures.\n\nI and my co-authors argue for a more integrated approach that combines anti-corruption and anti-crime strategies. We also emphasise the importance of anticipatory governance and foresight-oriented policymaking that try to predict how illicit actors will respond to institutional changes before reforms are implemented.\n\nThis may be the most important lesson from Kapitan Andreevo. Borders are not static lines defended by static institutions against static threats. They are evolving ecosystems where states, markets, technologies and criminal actors constantly adapt to one another.\n\nLearn more\n\n*   Access the full article, “[The Evolution of Corruption and Crimes at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint: The Impact of EU Accession](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fevolution-corruption-and-crimes-kapitan-andreevo-border-checkpoint-impact-eu-accession)”.\n*   Read our [Quick Guide 38 to border corruption](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg38) for a short introduction.\n*   Read our Working Paper 58, “Corruption as a facilitator of drug trafficking in the port of Rotterdam” for a related analysis.","2026-05-26",[1180,1181],"Prevention"," Research and Innovation","how-stronger-borders-can-create-smarter-corruption-lessons-from-one-of-europe039s-most-strategic-border-crossings-2972",[1067],2972,[1180,1181],[1067],{"id":1188,"storage":25,"filename_disk":1189,"filename_download":1074,"title":1190,"type":29,"created_on":1174,"modified_on":1174,"charset":14,"filesize":1191,"width":1076,"height":1192,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":1193,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":1174},"693afaed-084c-4590-aafd-c2d51b28adf7","693afaed-084c-4590-aafd-c2d51b28adf7.webp","How stronger borders can create smarter corruption: lessons from one of Europe's most strategic border crossings",12144,533,{},[1195,1215],{"id":1196,"news_id":1197,"countries_id":1214},7814,{"id":1173,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1174,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1175,"title":1176,"type":1060,"body":1177,"image":1188,"date":1178,"topic":1199,"slug":1182,"activity":1200,"nid":1184,"topics":1201,"activities":1202,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1203,"tags":1205,"authors":1209,"images":1211,"translations":1212,"content":1213},"b0662e2a-864d-4888-a1b7-4342b7570b30",[1180,1181],[1067],[1180,1181],[1067],[1196,1204],7815,[1206,1207,1208],6003,6005,6006,[1210],1373,[],[],[],{"id":604,"name":605,"code":606,"latitude":607,"longitude":608},{"id":1204,"news_id":1216,"countries_id":1227},{"id":1173,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1174,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1175,"title":1176,"type":1060,"body":1177,"image":1188,"date":1178,"topic":1217,"slug":1182,"activity":1218,"nid":1184,"topics":1219,"activities":1220,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1221,"tags":1222,"authors":1223,"images":1224,"translations":1225,"content":1226},[1180,1181],[1067],[1180,1181],[1067],[1196,1204],[1206,1207,1208],[1210],[],[],[],{"id":1228,"name":1229,"code":1230,"latitude":1231,"longitude":1232},220,"Turkey","TR",38.96375,35.24332,[1234,1247,1260],{"id":1206,"news_id":1235,"tags_id":1246},{"id":1173,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1174,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1175,"title":1176,"type":1060,"body":1177,"image":1188,"date":1178,"topic":1236,"slug":1182,"activity":1237,"nid":1184,"topics":1238,"activities":1239,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1240,"tags":1241,"authors":1242,"images":1243,"translations":1244,"content":1245},[1180,1181],[1067],[1180,1181],[1067],[1196,1204],[1206,1207,1208],[1210],[],[],[],{"id":117,"name":118},{"id":1207,"news_id":1248,"tags_id":1259},{"id":1173,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1174,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1175,"title":1176,"type":1060,"body":1177,"image":1188,"date":1178,"topic":1249,"slug":1182,"activity":1250,"nid":1184,"topics":1251,"activities":1252,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1253,"tags":1254,"authors":1255,"images":1256,"translations":1257,"content":1258},[1180,1181],[1067],[1180,1181],[1067],[1196,1204],[1206,1207,1208],[1210],[],[],[],{"id":4,"name":5},{"id":1208,"news_id":1261,"tags_id":1272},{"id":1173,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1174,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1175,"title":1176,"type":1060,"body":1177,"image":1188,"date":1178,"topic":1262,"slug":1182,"activity":1263,"nid":1184,"topics":1264,"activities":1265,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1266,"tags":1267,"authors":1268,"images":1269,"translations":1270,"content":1271},[1180,1181],[1067],[1180,1181],[1067],[1196,1204],[1206,1207,1208],[1210],[],[],[],{"id":1273,"name":1274},1374,"Law enforcement",[1276],{"id":1210,"news_id":1277,"authors_id":1288},{"id":1173,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1174,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1175,"title":1176,"type":1060,"body":1177,"image":1188,"date":1178,"topic":1278,"slug":1182,"activity":1279,"nid":1184,"topics":1280,"activities":1281,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1282,"tags":1283,"authors":1284,"images":1285,"translations":1286,"content":1287},[1180,1181],[1067],[1180,1181],[1067],[1196,1204],[1206,1207,1208],[1210],[],[],[],{"id":1289,"name":1290,"position":14,"image":670},550,"Dr Jacopo Costa",[],[],[],{"id":1295,"status":13,"date_created":1296,"date_updated":1297,"title":1298,"type":1060,"body":1299,"date":1300,"topic":1301,"slug":1304,"activity":1305,"nid":1306,"topics":1307,"activities":1308,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"language":172,"image":1309,"translation_of":14,"countries":1321,"tags":1322,"authors":1368,"images":1369,"translations":1370,"content":1371},10621,"2026-06-04T21:13:50.000Z","2026-06-05T10:40:20.000Z","Building trust: how Collective Action strengthens business ecosystems","In this article, Celia Lourens examines the role of cross-sectoral trust for a functional business environment. Collective Action, she argues, can be an approach to overcoming trust deficits between relevant stakeholders. Celia Lourens supports the organisation of our 6th International Collective Action Conference.\n\nAt its core, anti-corruption Collective Action is about tackling corruption challenges together, rather than alone. Collective Action is primarily driven by businesses, often in collaboration with government representatives and civil society, to address a shared challenge and attain a common objective.\n\nBuilding trust is one critical element of Collective Action efforts, as it requires a genuine and sustained willingness from all involved stakeholders to collaborate.\n\n### Trust across sectors: the foundation of effective markets\n\nMarkets depend on trust – not only between businesses and their customers or employees and their organisational leadership, but between the institutions that shape the business environment:\n\n*   Business relies on regulatory bodies to create fair and predictable markets.\n*   Governments depend on businesses to act with integrity, beyond merely meeting compliance requirements.\n*   Civil society holds both public and private sectors accountable whilst advancing transparency and public confidence.\n\nWhere these relationships are founded in trust, business ecosystems function more effectively and markets remain stable.\n\nYet, cross-sector trust is increasingly under strain. Geopolitical volatility, tightening regulations and elevated complexity within supply chains are creating distance between the very actors who need to collaborate.\n\n### The cost of low-trust systems\n\nWhen trust between the private sector, government and civil society breaks down, the consequences are immediate: slower transactions, higher compliance costs and due diligence burdens, duplicated oversight and heightened reputational risk. Oversight becomes adversarial, compliance turns reactive and businesses invest more time managing risks than creating value.\n\nIn an era of heightened competitiveness, trust across sectors becomes the most valuable currency. Where it is systemically weak, a vicious cycle takes hold: low trust demands heightened scrutiny and more controls, which in turn erode trust further. Government enforcement of standards becomes inconsistent and civil society turns sceptical rather than being a partner.\n\nBreaking this cycle requires a different approach – one built on shared commitment, sustained engagement and coordinated action. This is where Collective Action comes into play.\n\n### Collective Action as a trust-building mechanism\n\nIn practice, Collective Action enables organisations to jointly raise integrity standards across industries, develop sector-specific norms and tackle systemic risks such as bribery and unethical conduct. Its ultimate objective – and the key incentive to participate in Collective Action initiatives – is to create fairer, more transparent markets where companies can compete on equal terms.\n\nBut beyond its role as an anti-corruption approach, Collective Action also serves as a powerful trust-building mechanism. In a low-trust environment, individual organisations acting ethically on their own can find themselves at a disadvantage. Collective Action changes this dynamic. Shared commitments level the playing field, the involvement of multiple stakeholders builds credibility and joint accountability mechanisms increase transparency.\n\nOver time, this collaborative approach fosters trust where it is hardest to achieve – between actors with different roles, responsibilities and pressures. The result is a shift in systemic behaviour that lowers the cost of doing business and drives a more predictable business environment.\n\n### From compliance to competitive advantage\n\nToo often, doing business with integrity is treated as a compliance obligation rather than a source of competitive advantage. Yet, in high-trust business environments, stronger partnerships and faster decision-making enable organisations to withstand disruptions. Organisations invested in building trust across their business ecosystem are better positioned to navigate complexity and sustain long-term value.\n\nCollective Action supports this shift by helping to shape markets that reward integrity, moving beyond a risk mitigation exercise.\n\n### Building trust in practice\n\nThis is exactly the focus of the [6th International Collective Action Conference](https:\u002F\u002Fcollective-action.com\u002Fget-involved\u002Fevents\u002Ficac-2026), taking place on 9–10 June 2026 in Basel, Switzerland.\n\nBringing together leaders from business, government and civil society, the conference is designed as a space not just for dialogue, but for practical exchange. It showcases how Collective Action initiatives are being implemented across sectors, what makes them effective and how they can be adapted to different contexts.\n\nThe conference reflects a core conviction: trust across sectors does not happen by default but must be actively built. Organisations that commit to building trust together, as a collective, will not only manage risks more effectively, but help shape a new competitive advantage rooted in integrity.\n\n### Learn more\n\n*   [6th International Collective Action Conference 2026](https:\u002F\u002Fcollective-action.com\u002Fget-involved\u002Fevents\u002Ficac-2026)\n*   [B20 Collective Action Hub](https:\u002F\u002Fcollective-action.com)\n*   Working Paper 56: [Anti-corruption Collective Action: A typology for a new era](https:\u002F\u002Fcollective-action.com\u002Fexplore\u002Fpublications\u002F2397)\n*   Book: [Collective Action in practice: a game-changer for business integrity](https:\u002F\u002Fcollective-action.com\u002Fexplore\u002Fpublications\u002F2407)","2026-04-20",[1302,1303],"Collective Action","Private Sector","building-trust-how-collective-action-strengthens-business-ecosystems-2959",[1067],2959,[1302,1303],[1067],{"id":1310,"storage":25,"filename_disk":1311,"filename_download":1312,"title":1313,"type":29,"created_on":1314,"modified_on":1297,"charset":14,"filesize":1315,"width":1316,"height":1317,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":1318,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":1319,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":1320},"c470512d-6eaf-404e-86ec-545ebd052655","c470512d-6eaf-404e-86ec-545ebd052655.webp","Building-trust_5th-InternationalCollectiveActionConference.webp","Building Trust 5th International Collective Action Conference","2026-06-05T10:40:05.000Z",498132,2400,1600,"Building trust, one conversation at a time – here at the 5th International Collective Action Conference in 2024. Photo: David Borter, LEO MEDIA GmbH \u002F BBM PRODUCTIONS AG.",{},"2026-06-05T10:40:08.000Z",[],[1323,1340,1355],{"id":1324,"news_id":1325,"tags_id":1338},6007,{"id":1295,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1296,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1297,"title":1298,"type":1060,"body":1299,"image":1310,"date":1300,"topic":1326,"slug":1304,"activity":1327,"nid":1306,"topics":1328,"activities":1329,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1330,"tags":1331,"authors":1334,"images":1335,"translations":1336,"content":1337},[1302,1303],[1067],[1302,1303],[1067],[],[1324,1332,1333],6008,6009,[],[],[],[],{"id":1339,"name":1302},909,{"id":1332,"news_id":1341,"tags_id":1352},{"id":1295,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1296,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1297,"title":1298,"type":1060,"body":1299,"image":1310,"date":1300,"topic":1342,"slug":1304,"activity":1343,"nid":1306,"topics":1344,"activities":1345,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1346,"tags":1347,"authors":1348,"images":1349,"translations":1350,"content":1351},[1302,1303],[1067],[1302,1303],[1067],[],[1324,1332,1333],[],[],[],[],{"id":1353,"name":1354},830,"Business integrity",{"id":1333,"news_id":1356,"tags_id":1367},{"id":1295,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1296,"user_updated":1198,"date_updated":1297,"title":1298,"type":1060,"body":1299,"image":1310,"date":1300,"topic":1357,"slug":1304,"activity":1358,"nid":1306,"topics":1359,"activities":1360,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1361,"tags":1362,"authors":1363,"images":1364,"translations":1365,"content":1366},[1302,1303],[1067],[1302,1303],[1067],[],[1324,1332,1333],[],[],[],[],{"id":4,"name":5},[],[],[],[],{"id":1373,"status":13,"date_created":1374,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"date":727,"topic":1378,"slug":1379,"activity":1380,"nid":1383,"topics":1384,"activities":1385,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"language":172,"image":1386,"translation_of":14,"countries":1392,"tags":1393,"authors":1411,"images":1412,"translations":1413,"content":1414},10607,"2026-04-15T22:45:18.000Z","2026-05-07T21:29:58.000Z","Corruption is a complex, adaptive network. What does this mean for anti-corruption policy and practice?","Corruption is not just a collection of isolated acts by individuals. It is a complex, adaptive system that evolves in response to efforts to control it. And seeing it this way opens up new possibilities to tackle it more effectively.\n\nThis was the central message of a recent Basel Institute on Governance research webinar exploring how corruption evolves and what this means for designing interventions that remain effective over time.\n\nTwo senior researchers from the Basel Institute's Prevention, Research and Innovation – Dr Claudia Baez Camargo and Dr Jacopo Costa – were joined by Dr Maria Nizzero, Head of Sanctions Policy at UK Finance and Associate Research Fellow at RUSI, to explore corruption's networked nature and its implications.\n\nThese implications are practical as much as conceptual. Understanding corruption as a networked, adaptive system changes how corruption, organised crime, sanctions evasion and related threats need to be addressed in practice.\n\n### Corruption as a dynamic system\n\nA recent [academic paper](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fconceptualizing-evolution-corruption-empirical-analysis-italy) by Dr Baez Camargo and Dr Costa highlights a key gap in how corruption is typically analysed. While it is widely accepted that corrupt and criminal strategies change over time, the mechanisms driving that change have received far less attention.\n\nTheir analytical framework suggests that corruption evolves through changes in the behaviour of individuals within networks, shaped by shifts in the broader environment. These shifts may include stronger enforcement, legal and regulatory reforms, technological developments, or wider political and economic change. When new strategies prove effective, they spread across networks through collaboration, brokerage and imitation.\n\nA case study of Italy illustrates this process. In the early 1990s, corruption operated through relatively centralised, pyramidal structures linked to political parties. Over time, following scandals, reforms and increased scrutiny, this system became more fragmented and decentralised. Corrupt practices moved away from formalised exchanges and became more networked, informal and embedded in relationships.\n\nThe outcome was not less corruption, but different corruption.\n\nAs Dr Costa noted, corruption and anti-corruption are engaged in an “uninterrupted dance”, in which “very often, corrupt actors are two steps ahead of us”.\n\n### The concept of the “kleptocratic enterprise”\n\nLooking at corruption through a network lens also opens up new ways of thinking about how to tackle it.\n\n[Research by Dr Nizzero and co-authors](https:\u002F\u002Fgiace.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F01\u002FGIACE_Kleptocratic-Enterprises_NizzeroHeathershawMayne.pdf) Professor John Heathershaw and Professor Tom Mayne highlights the persistent challenges of asset recovery and enforcement in cases of large-scale corruption. Illicit wealth is often concealed through complex ownership structures, dispersed across jurisdictions and distanced from its original source over time. Legal frameworks may exist, but applying them effectively remains difficult.\n\nA key part of the problem lies in the role of professional service providers. Lawyers, accountants, real estate actors, company service providers and others help move, manage and shield assets. These actors often operate across borders and may serve a wide range of clients, including both organised crime groups and politically exposed individuals.\n\nThis has led to the idea of a “kleptocratic enterprise”: a networked system in which clients demand services such as concealment and asset protection, and a range of actors supply those services. Viewing corruption in this way shifts attention towards patterns of conduct, relationships and enabling structures.\n\nIt also suggests that tools used to tackle organised crime, such as anti-racketeering or anti-mafia approaches, may offer useful insights. These frameworks often focus on networks rather than individuals, combine multiple legal tools and allow for a broader understanding of harm, including the impact on society.\n\nAt the same time, responses must remain grounded in due process and the rule of law. Stronger measures can create new risks, including displacement of illicit activity to other jurisdictions or unintended consequences linked to overreach. The challenge is to expand the toolkit without compromising core legal principles.\n\n### When enforcement creates new risks\n\nField research by the Basel Institute under the EU-funded [FALCON project](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.falcon-horizon.eu\u002F) shows how quickly corrupt and criminal networks adapt to enforcement pressure.\n\nAt the [Port of Rotterdam](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-58), increased inspections and surveillance aimed at tackling drug trafficking made insider access more valuable. Corruption became a critical mechanism for bypassing strengthened controls, illustrating how enforcement can shift incentives in ways that reinforce the role of corruption.\n\nAt the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey, changes linked to EU accession, including new regulatory frameworks and stronger border controls, were followed by new forms of corruption and criminal activity. These included routinised extractive practices, shifts in smuggling strategies and the emergence of new actors.\n\nAcross both cases, the pattern is consistent. Measures designed to reduce corruption and illicit activity can reshape how those activities are organised and carried out.\n\n### Why networks are so resilient\n\nOne reason corruption adapts so effectively lies in the nature of the networks themselves.\n\nAs Dr Baez Camargo explains, enforcement-focused approaches can become a “whack-a-mole game” when underlying incentives remain unchanged. Efforts to close one avenue often lead to the emergence of another.\n\n[Informal networks](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fquick-guide-23-informal-networks-and-anti-corruption) are particularly resilient because they are built on more than financial exchange. Trust, personal relationships and shared social norms play a central role. These elements are difficult to detect, harder to regulate and highly adaptable.\n\nCriminal and corrupt networks are also flexible and opportunistic. They can shift strategies, routes and methods quickly, drawing on significant resources and expertise. Formal institutions, by contrast, operate within legal and procedural constraints, which can limit their ability to respond at the same pace.\n\n### Towards more adaptive responses\n\nIf corruption behaves like a complex adaptive system, anti-corruption efforts need to reflect that reality.\n\nOne emerging approach is to place greater emphasis on understanding systems rather than focusing narrowly on individual interventions. This involves mapping relationships, incentives and behavioural patterns in much greater depth, and remaining alert to how these evolve over time.\n\nIt also requires a shift away from strictly linear theories of change. Fixed indicators and predefined outcomes can miss important developments, particularly when systems are dynamic and interconnected. A more flexible approach allows practitioners to identify early signals of change, whether positive or negative, and adjust their strategies accordingly.\n\nAs Dr Baez Camargo puts it, “we cannot keep thinking that change is linear”. A better understanding of systems, combined with the ability to detect and respond to change, is essential for staying relevant in rapidly evolving contexts.\n\n### A shift in perspective\n\nTaken together, these insights point to a broader conclusion. Corruption is not static, and responses to it cannot be static either.\n\nUnderstanding corruption as a networked, adaptive system changes how problems are defined and how solutions are designed. It brings greater attention to relationships, incentives and enabling structures. It also highlights the importance of anticipating how systems will respond to interventions.\n\nFor practitioners working on corruption, organised crime or related risks, this shift is increasingly important. Integrating it into programming should help us not only respond more quickly as corruption adapts – i.e. whack the moles more rapidly when they pop up. It should also help us design flexible, creative and context-sensitive interventions that can genuinely disrupt these resilient illicit networks and themselves adapt to remain effective over time.\n\n### Learn more\n\n*   [Conceptualizing the evolution of corruption: an empirical analysis from Italy](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fconceptualizing-evolution-corruption-empirical-analysis-italy), by Dr Jacopo Costa and Dr Claudia Baez Camargo.\n*   [Corruption as a facilitator of drug trafficking in the port of Rotterdam](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-58), by Dr Saba Kassa and Dr Jacopo Costa \n*   [The Kleptocratic Enterprise: Lessons from organised crime to target transnational corruption and strengthen asset recovery in the UK](https:\u002F\u002Fgiace.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F01\u002FGIACE_Kleptocratic-Enterprises_NizzeroHeathershawMayne.pdf), by Dr Maria Nizzero, Professor John Heathershaw and Professor Tom Mayne\n\n### Webinar recording\n\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fembed\u002FETQto16U_q4?si=yrjbtCTRmQ5ceTPo\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"560\">\u003C\u002Fiframe>\n\nDisclaimer\n\n_This webinar and summary are part of the FALCON (Fight Against Largescale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) project. FALCON is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Program Grant Agreement ID 101121281. The Basel Institute on Governance, as an associated partner without the right to receive funds directly from the European Research Executive Agency, has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The contents of this summary are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the European Research Executive Agency or SERI._",[1180,1181],"corruption-is-a-complex-adaptive-network-what-does-this-mean-for-anti-corruption-policy-and-practice-2945",[1381,1382],"Events","Research",2945,[569],[1381,1382],{"id":1387,"storage":25,"filename_disk":1388,"filename_download":1074,"title":1376,"type":29,"created_on":1374,"modified_on":1374,"charset":14,"filesize":1389,"width":1076,"height":1390,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":1391,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":1374},"af37ba1d-85e1-4724-ab47-4e58056330c6","af37ba1d-85e1-4724-ab47-4e58056330c6.webp",24708,447,{},[],[1394],{"id":1395,"news_id":1396,"tags_id":1410},5619,{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1397,"slug":1379,"activity":1398,"nid":1383,"topics":1399,"activities":1400,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1401,"tags":1402,"authors":1403,"images":1404,"translations":1405,"content":1406},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],5,6,7,{"id":4,"name":5},[],[],[],[1415,1430,1447,1464,1481,1498,1515,1532],{"id":42,"collection":41,"news_id":1416,"item":1427},{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1417,"slug":1379,"activity":1418,"nid":1383,"topics":1419,"activities":1420,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1421,"tags":1422,"authors":1423,"images":1424,"translations":1425,"content":1426},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],{"id":1428,"text":1429,"class":14,"title":14,"anchor":14},64,"Corruption is not just a collection of isolated acts by individuals. It is a complex, adaptive system that evolves in response to efforts to control it. And seeing it this way opens up new possibilities to tackle it more effectively.\n\nThis was the central message of a recent Basel Institute on Governance research webinar exploring how corruption evolves and what this means for designing interventions that remain effective over time.\n\nTwo senior researchers from the Basel Institute's Prevention, Research and Innovation – Dr Claudia Baez Camargo and Dr Jacopo Costa – were joined by Dr Maria Nizzero, Head of Sanctions Policy at UK Finance and Associate Research Fellow at RUSI, to explore corruption's networked nature and its implications.\n\nThese implications are practical as much as conceptual. Understanding corruption as a networked, adaptive system changes how corruption, organised crime, sanctions evasion and related threats need to be addressed in practice.",{"id":63,"collection":41,"news_id":1431,"item":1442},{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1432,"slug":1379,"activity":1433,"nid":1383,"topics":1434,"activities":1435,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1436,"tags":1437,"authors":1438,"images":1439,"translations":1440,"content":1441},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],{"id":1443,"text":1444,"class":14,"title":1445,"anchor":1446},65,"A recent [academic paper](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fconceptualizing-evolution-corruption-empirical-analysis-italy) by Dr Baez Camargo and Dr Costa highlights a key gap in how corruption is typically analysed. While it is widely accepted that corrupt and criminal strategies change over time, the mechanisms driving that change have received far less attention.\n\nTheir analytical framework suggests that corruption evolves through changes in the behaviour of individuals within networks, shaped by shifts in the broader environment. These shifts may include stronger enforcement, legal and regulatory reforms, technological developments, or wider political and economic change. When new strategies prove effective, they spread across networks through collaboration, brokerage and imitation.\n\nA case study of Italy illustrates this process. In the early 1990s, corruption operated through relatively centralised, pyramidal structures linked to political parties. Over time, following scandals, reforms and increased scrutiny, this system became more fragmented and decentralised. Corrupt practices moved away from formalised exchanges and became more networked, informal and embedded in relationships.\n\nThe outcome was not less corruption, but different corruption.\n\nAs Dr Costa noted, corruption and anti-corruption are engaged in an “uninterrupted dance”, in which “very often, corrupt actors are two steps ahead of us”.\n","Corruption as a dynamic system","dynamic-system",{"id":75,"collection":41,"news_id":1448,"item":1459},{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1449,"slug":1379,"activity":1450,"nid":1383,"topics":1451,"activities":1452,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1453,"tags":1454,"authors":1455,"images":1456,"translations":1457,"content":1458},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],{"id":1460,"text":1461,"class":14,"title":1462,"anchor":1463},66,"Looking at corruption through a network lens also opens up new ways of thinking about how to tackle it.\n\n[Research by Dr Nizzero and co-authors](https:\u002F\u002Fgiace.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F01\u002FGIACE_Kleptocratic-Enterprises_NizzeroHeathershawMayne.pdf) Professor John Heathershaw and Professor Tom Mayne highlights the persistent challenges of asset recovery and enforcement in cases of large-scale corruption. Illicit wealth is often concealed through complex ownership structures, dispersed across jurisdictions and distanced from its original source over time. Legal frameworks may exist, but applying them effectively remains difficult.\n\nA key part of the problem lies in the role of professional service providers. Lawyers, accountants, real estate actors, company service providers and others help move, manage and shield assets. These actors often operate across borders and may serve a wide range of clients, including both organised crime groups and politically exposed individuals.\n\nThis has led to the idea of a “kleptocratic enterprise”: a networked system in which clients demand services such as concealment and asset protection, and a range of actors supply those services. Viewing corruption in this way shifts attention towards patterns of conduct, relationships and enabling structures.\n\nIt also suggests that tools used to tackle organised crime, such as anti-racketeering or anti-mafia approaches, may offer useful insights. These frameworks often focus on networks rather than individuals, combine multiple legal tools and allow for a broader understanding of harm, including the impact on society.\n\nAt the same time, responses must remain grounded in due process and the rule of law. Stronger measures can create new risks, including displacement of illicit activity to other jurisdictions or unintended consequences linked to overreach. The challenge is to expand the toolkit without compromising core legal principles.","The concept of the “kleptocratic enterprise”","kleptocratic",{"id":87,"collection":41,"news_id":1465,"item":1476},{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1466,"slug":1379,"activity":1467,"nid":1383,"topics":1468,"activities":1469,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1470,"tags":1471,"authors":1472,"images":1473,"translations":1474,"content":1475},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],{"id":1477,"text":1478,"class":14,"title":1479,"anchor":1480},67,"Field research by the Basel Institute under the EU-funded [FALCON project](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.falcon-horizon.eu\u002F) shows how quickly corrupt and criminal networks adapt to enforcement pressure.\n\nAt the [Port of Rotterdam](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-58), increased inspections and surveillance aimed at tackling drug trafficking made insider access more valuable. Corruption became a critical mechanism for bypassing strengthened controls, illustrating how enforcement can shift incentives in ways that reinforce the role of corruption.\n\nAt the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey, changes linked to EU accession, including new regulatory frameworks and stronger border controls, were followed by new forms of corruption and criminal activity. These included routinised extractive practices, shifts in smuggling strategies and the emergence of new actors.\n\nAcross both cases, the pattern is consistent. Measures designed to reduce corruption and illicit activity can reshape how those activities are organised and carried out.","When enforcement creates new risks","new-risks",{"id":1407,"collection":41,"news_id":1482,"item":1493},{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1483,"slug":1379,"activity":1484,"nid":1383,"topics":1485,"activities":1486,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1487,"tags":1488,"authors":1489,"images":1490,"translations":1491,"content":1492},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],{"id":1494,"text":1495,"class":14,"title":1496,"anchor":1497},68,"One reason corruption adapts so effectively lies in the nature of the networks themselves.\n\nAs Dr Baez Camargo explains, enforcement-focused approaches can become a “whack-a-mole game” when underlying incentives remain unchanged. Efforts to close one avenue often lead to the emergence of another.\n\n[Informal networks](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fquick-guide-23-informal-networks-and-anti-corruption) are particularly resilient because they are built on more than financial exchange. Trust, personal relationships and shared social norms play a central role. These elements are difficult to detect, harder to regulate and highly adaptable.\n\nCriminal and corrupt networks are also flexible and opportunistic. They can shift strategies, routes and methods quickly, drawing on significant resources and expertise. Formal institutions, by contrast, operate within legal and procedural constraints, which can limit their ability to respond at the same pace.","Why networks are so resilient","resilience",{"id":1408,"collection":41,"news_id":1499,"item":1510},{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1500,"slug":1379,"activity":1501,"nid":1383,"topics":1502,"activities":1503,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1504,"tags":1505,"authors":1506,"images":1507,"translations":1508,"content":1509},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],{"id":1511,"text":1512,"class":14,"title":1513,"anchor":1514},69,"If corruption behaves like a complex adaptive system, anti-corruption efforts need to reflect that reality.\n\nOne emerging approach is to place greater emphasis on understanding systems rather than focusing narrowly on individual interventions. This involves mapping relationships, incentives and behavioural patterns in much greater depth, and remaining alert to how these evolve over time.\n\nIt also requires a shift away from strictly linear theories of change. Fixed indicators and predefined outcomes can miss important developments, particularly when systems are dynamic and interconnected. A more flexible approach allows practitioners to identify early signals of change, whether positive or negative, and adjust their strategies accordingly.\n\nAs Dr Baez Camargo puts it, “we cannot keep thinking that change is linear”. A better understanding of systems, combined with the ability to detect and respond to change, is essential for staying relevant in rapidly evolving contexts.\n\n### A shift in perspective\n\nTaken together, these insights point to a broader conclusion. Corruption is not static, and responses to it cannot be static either.\n\nUnderstanding corruption as a networked, adaptive system changes how problems are defined and how solutions are designed. It brings greater attention to relationships, incentives and enabling structures. It also highlights the importance of anticipating how systems will respond to interventions.\n\nFor practitioners working on corruption, organised crime or related risks, this shift is increasingly important. Integrating it into programming should help us not only respond more quickly as corruption adapts – i.e. whack the moles more rapidly when they pop up. It should also help us design flexible, creative and context-sensitive interventions that can genuinely disrupt these resilient illicit networks and themselves adapt to remain effective over time.","Towards more adaptive responses","adaptive-responses",{"id":1409,"collection":41,"news_id":1516,"item":1527},{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1517,"slug":1379,"activity":1518,"nid":1383,"topics":1519,"activities":1520,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1521,"tags":1522,"authors":1523,"images":1524,"translations":1525,"content":1526},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],{"id":1528,"text":1529,"class":14,"title":1530,"anchor":1531},70,"*   [Conceptualizing the evolution of corruption: an empirical analysis from Italy](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fconceptualizing-evolution-corruption-empirical-analysis-italy), by Dr Jacopo Costa and Dr Claudia Baez Camargo.\n*   [Corruption as a facilitator of drug trafficking in the port of Rotterdam](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-58), by Dr Saba Kassa and Dr Jacopo Costa \n*   [The Kleptocratic Enterprise: Lessons from organised crime to target transnational corruption and strengthen asset recovery in the UK](https:\u002F\u002Fgiace.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F01\u002FGIACE_Kleptocratic-Enterprises_NizzeroHeathershawMayne.pdf), by Dr Maria Nizzero, Professor John Heathershaw and Professor Tom Mayne","Learn more","learn-more",{"id":57,"collection":41,"news_id":1533,"item":1544},{"id":1373,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1374,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1375,"title":1376,"type":1060,"body":1377,"image":1387,"date":727,"topic":1534,"slug":1379,"activity":1535,"nid":1383,"topics":1536,"activities":1537,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1538,"tags":1539,"authors":1540,"images":1541,"translations":1542,"content":1543},[1180,1181],[1381,1382],[569],[1381,1382],[],[1395],[],[],[],[42,63,75,87,1407,1408,1409,57],{"id":1545,"text":1546,"class":14,"title":1547,"anchor":1548},71,"\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fembed\u002FETQto16U_q4?si=yrjbtCTRmQ5ceTPo\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"100%\">\u003C\u002Fiframe>\n\nDisclaimer\n\n_This webinar and summary are part of the FALCON (Fight Against Largescale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) project. FALCON is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Program Grant Agreement ID 101121281. The Basel Institute on Governance, as an associated partner without the right to receive funds directly from the European Research Executive Agency, has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The contents of this summary are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the European Research Executive Agency or SERI._","Webinar recording","recording",{"id":1550,"status":13,"date_created":1551,"date_updated":1552,"title":1553,"type":1060,"body":1554,"date":1555,"topic":1556,"slug":1557,"activity":1558,"nid":1559,"topics":1560,"activities":1561,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"language":172,"image":1562,"translation_of":14,"countries":1567,"tags":1568,"authors":1658,"images":1674,"translations":1675,"content":1676},10598,"2026-01-22T11:01:42.000Z","2026-04-27T21:01:56.000Z","Professor Anne Peters on how anti-corruption organisations can survive in today’s volatile world","_Professor Anne Peters, a renowned scholar of international law and governance, stepped down from her role as Vice President of the Basel Institute on Governance at the end of 2025. In this Q&A she looks back at her involvement with the Basel Institute since its inception more than 23 years ago._\n\n_Her insights emphasise the importance of underpinning anti-corruption and governance efforts with interdisciplinary academic research, and of connecting abstract concepts like governance and asset recovery to real-world challenges like human rights, biodiversity and climate change._\n\n_She traces the Basel Institute’s path from a small group of friends driven by individual passion to a highly professional, global centre of expertise on anti-corruption and asset recovery. This professionalism, she says, is essential for non-profit organisations to survive and even thrive in today’s unstable new world._\n\n_Anne is known for her pioneering work on animal rights, human rights and corruption. She holds long-standing academic positions as Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (MPIL) Heidelberg and Professor of International Law at the University of Basel._\n\n### You were a part of the Basel Institute from the beginning. How did it all start?\n\nMy engagement with the Institute took root when I joined the University of Basel in 2001 and met Professor Mark Pieth, the Institute’s founder and former President. He was involved in establishing the [Wolfsberg Group](https:\u002F\u002Fwolfsberg-group.org\u002F), an early multi-stakeholder initiative of banks focused on developing anti-money laundering guidelines. This was a time when concepts like banking due diligence and know-your-customer were relatively unknown, and the idea of multi-stakeholder associations didn’t even exist.\n\nBecause of Mark Pieth’s personal standing as a Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Basel and as Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, he received requests for advisory and consultancy services on problems of corruption and governance.\n\nThe Basel Institute gradually rose out of those beginnings, helped by individuals like Gemma Aiolfi and Thomas Christ, who continued to play key roles at the Institute for the next two decades.\n\nBack then we used to meet in cafés or in Mark’s office, and we just had a letterhead and a flyer describing the Basel Institute on Governance. Things became more formalised when we received seed funding from a foundation, drafted statutes and – this was the game-changer – hired Gretta Fenner in 2005. Gretta was the first paid staff member. [We miss her dearly](https:\u002F\u002Fgretta.baselgovernance.org\u002F).\n\n### What excited you about it? What did you bring from the academic world?\n\nI was young, I had energy and I liked Mark as a colleague and friend. The concept of governance was also quite new and exciting.\n\nI am a public international lawyer, not a criminal lawyer, so I had little technical expertise in corruption or money laundering. But since these crimes have clear transnational dimensions, my background in international law made sense. I was able to bring the academic perspective to the Institute’s work, later reinforced by Lucy Koechlin and [Claudia Baez Camargo](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fabout\u002Fpeople\u002Fdr-claudia-baez-camargo), who joined to lead research on public and global governance.\n\nThe association with the University of Basel was crucial. It gave structure to the original idea: providing practical advice and assistance on corruption and governance, grounded in academic research. An important aspect was financing doctoral students who would work at the Basel Institute while completing their PhDs. I supervised three such dissertations.\n\nThis academic underpinning and insistence on research and evidence is still one of the Basel Institute’s strongest points.\n\n### What other milestones and innovations do you remember?\n\nA major academic milestone was our conference on non-state actors and the resulting book, [_Non-State Actors as Standard Setters_](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fnon-state-actors-standard-setters), which was published with Cambridge University Press in 2009. The term “non-state actor” – covering the private sector as well as non-profit organisations, academia, the media and the like – was still novel. I co-edited the book with Gretta Fenner, Lucy Koechlin and our former Board colleague and social anthropologist Till Förster. It was a serious and influential publication that is still cited today.\n\nI remember us retreating for a full day to review drafts. At first the mix of different writing styles and perspectives – political science, law, social anthropology and sociology – was a bit of a shock. Then we realised the value of this interdisciplinary nature in helping to gain a holistic perspective of how non-state actors can contribute to setting governance standards in the messy world of real life.\n\nAgain, this interdisciplinary approach remains central to the Basel Institute’s current work.\n\n### How did the Basel Institute’s work expand into so many different areas – from asset recovery to conflicts of interest, to money laundering in the art market. What’s the connection?\n\nPersonal interests, reputations and networks mattered greatly. And new concepts were appearing in the international anti-corruption arena. People and governments needed help working out how to apply them in practice in different contexts.\n\nThat’s what happened with asset recovery, a concept that appeared in the 2003 UN Convention Against Corruption with the aim of depriving corrupt actors of their criminal gains. We developed a distinct workstream at the Basel Institute that soon became the [International Centre for Asset Recovery](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fasset-recovery).\n\nThe concept and practice of [Collective Action](https:\u002F\u002Fcollective-action.com\u002F) – sustained, trust-based multi-stakeholder collaboration with the private sector to address specific corruption challenges – evolved in large part thanks to our colleague Gemma Aiolfi’s tireless efforts.\n\nSimilarly, it was a personal interest that led myself and fellow board member Lukas Handschin to edit a book on [_Conflict of Interest in Global, Public and Corporate Governance_](https:\u002F\u002Fbooks.google.ch\u002Fbooks\u002Fabout\u002FConflict_of_Interest_in_Global_Public_an.html?id=NMKCIyPzyMkC&redir_esc=y) published by Cambridge University Press. It’s a topic that I was convinced was underappreciated at the time and is now, in these current times, showing its importance.\n\nWe did early work on [money laundering in the art market](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fworking-paper-12-basel-art-trade-guidelines-intermediary-report-self-regulation). Again this was a personal interest of our board member Thomas Christ that is now a key concern for not only [money laundering but sanctions evasion](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fquick-guide-29-money-laundering-and-sanctions-evasion-using-art-market).\n\nA newer area we have helped to establish internationally is [green corruption](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fgreen-corruption), i.e. applying anti-corruption and governance tools to address challenges like the mass extinction of species, biodiversity decline, the climate crisis. This is a topic that is dear to me personally and that is evolving fast.\n\nCommon to this all is how the Basel Institute applies anti-corruption and governance research and tools to different fields that really matter in the world, from business to health to environmental protection.\n\n### And human rights? How does that connect to corruption?\n\nMy interest in the intersection between corruption and human rights grew from Gretta’s involvement in several side events at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. I began thinking about legal relationships between corruption and human rights and whether, for example, states have a human rights obligation to protect citizens from corruption.\n\nI wrote a [Working Paper](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fworking-paper-20-corruption-and-human-rights) on the topic for the Basel Institute back in 2015 and later published two academic papers. You can get a short overview of the topic in this [Quick Guide to corruption and human rights](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg32).\n\nThe Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) references my work in a recently published [practical guide](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ohchr.org\u002Fen\u002Fdocuments\u002Ftools-and-resources\u002Fcorruption-and-human-rights-practical-guide) on corruption and human rights to which I contributed, as well as other work of the Basel Institute on [human rights in the context of asset recovery laws](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-54).\n\nIt’s great to see our scholarly work being used to underpin practical international guidance that will ultimately have impact on people’s lives.\n\n### What does the current global context mean for anti-corruption efforts and organisations like the Basel Institute?\n\nWe are in a period of profound global change. The political order is fundamentally shifting and the optimism of the 1990s is all but gone. The United States, an early driver of international anti-corruption treaties, efforts and successes, is retreating from its role. In some countries, anti-corruption laws and campaigns are misused for political purposes.\n\nEven if concepts like good governance, rule of law, human rights and democracy don’t seem to be _en vogue_ right now, they remain important. Not least because they, and corruption, are key to understanding and tackling today’s toughest challenges, from poverty and inequality to crime and conflict.\n\nSo non-profit organisations like the Basel Institute are more essential than ever, as are other non-state actors dedicated to tackling corruption and governance challenges. But it’s not easy for small organisations to survive in this rocky world, and many face their own governance challenges.\n\nThat’s why it’s good that the Basel Institute has professionalised its governance and compliance structures over the years, while keeping the sense of passion and personal conviction that characterised its early years.\n\n### Any bright side for those who care about anti-corruption and governance?\n\nOn the positive side, public awareness, opposition and global debate about corruption is far stronger than in the past. And much of international law – on travel, transportation, communication, diplomatic relations etc. – functions quietly and effectively every day.\n\nDespite how dire the current situation seems, change for the better has only ever occurred after major catastrophes. For example, the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 1998 was a direct result of the rape camps and the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia and Herzegovina.\n\nThe question is how severe crises must become and how much they must affect people directly before meaningful reform occurs. Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, for example, are slow-moving crises that still feel abstract to many.\n\n### What’s coming up for you personally?\n\nIn my research I remain focused on the big-picture development of the international legal order.\n\nI look forward to the publication in 2026 of the [_Oxford Handbook of Global Animal Law_](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.mpil.de\u002Fen\u002Fpub\u002Fresearch\u002Fareas\u002Fpublic-international-law\u002Fhandbook-of-global-animal-law.cfm), which I co-edited and which seeks to authoritatively establish this fairly new field of international law.\n\nAlongside my research I continue to advise the German Foreign Affairs Department (and sometimes the Swiss, too), and will serve as an expert witness on international legal questions in a case before a domestic court.\n\nAnd, of course I will continue to follow and support what the Basel Institute is doing. The organisation and its mission remain dear to my heart.\n\nThank you, Anne Peters, for your time and for your unwavering support and guidance over so many years. We wish you well in your future endeavours and adventures.","2026-01-22",[171],"professor-anne-peters-on-how-anti-corruption-organisations-can-survive-in-todays-volatile-world-2907",[1067],2907,[],[1067],{"id":1563,"storage":25,"filename_disk":1564,"filename_download":1074,"title":1553,"type":29,"created_on":1551,"modified_on":1551,"charset":14,"filesize":1565,"width":1076,"height":1192,"duration":14,"embed":14,"description":14,"location":14,"tags":14,"metadata":1566,"focal_point_x":14,"focal_point_y":14,"tus_id":14,"tus_data":14,"uploaded_on":1551},"1a70b3d8-53be-4948-893b-afe3bcaa0367","1a70b3d8-53be-4948-893b-afe3bcaa0367.webp",13020,{},[],[1569,1589,1604,1617,1630,1643],{"id":1570,"news_id":1571,"tags_id":1588},5595,{"id":1550,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1551,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1552,"title":1553,"type":1060,"body":1554,"image":1563,"date":1555,"topic":1572,"slug":1557,"activity":1573,"nid":1559,"topics":1574,"activities":1575,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1576,"tags":1577,"authors":1583,"images":1585,"translations":1586,"content":1587},[171],[1067],[],[1067],[],[1570,1578,1579,1580,1581,1582],5597,5601,5602,5621,5622,[1584],1368,[],[],[],{"id":4,"name":5},{"id":1578,"news_id":1590,"tags_id":1601},{"id":1550,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1551,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1552,"title":1553,"type":1060,"body":1554,"image":1563,"date":1555,"topic":1591,"slug":1557,"activity":1592,"nid":1559,"topics":1593,"activities":1594,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1595,"tags":1596,"authors":1597,"images":1598,"translations":1599,"content":1600},[171],[1067],[],[1067],[],[1570,1578,1579,1580,1581,1582],[1584],[],[],[],{"id":1602,"name":1603},932,"Human rights",{"id":1579,"news_id":1605,"tags_id":1616},{"id":1550,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1551,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1552,"title":1553,"type":1060,"body":1554,"image":1563,"date":1555,"topic":1606,"slug":1557,"activity":1607,"nid":1559,"topics":1608,"activities":1609,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1610,"tags":1611,"authors":1612,"images":1613,"translations":1614,"content":1615},[171],[1067],[],[1067],[],[1570,1578,1579,1580,1581,1582],[1584],[],[],[],{"id":314,"name":315},{"id":1580,"news_id":1618,"tags_id":1629},{"id":1550,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1551,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1552,"title":1553,"type":1060,"body":1554,"image":1563,"date":1555,"topic":1619,"slug":1557,"activity":1620,"nid":1559,"topics":1621,"activities":1622,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1623,"tags":1624,"authors":1625,"images":1626,"translations":1627,"content":1628},[171],[1067],[],[1067],[],[1570,1578,1579,1580,1581,1582],[1584],[],[],[],{"id":1339,"name":1302},{"id":1581,"news_id":1631,"tags_id":1642},{"id":1550,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1551,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1552,"title":1553,"type":1060,"body":1554,"image":1563,"date":1555,"topic":1632,"slug":1557,"activity":1633,"nid":1559,"topics":1634,"activities":1635,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1636,"tags":1637,"authors":1638,"images":1639,"translations":1640,"content":1641},[171],[1067],[],[1067],[],[1570,1578,1579,1580,1581,1582],[1584],[],[],[],{"id":933,"name":934},{"id":1582,"news_id":1644,"tags_id":1655},{"id":1550,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1551,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1552,"title":1553,"type":1060,"body":1554,"image":1563,"date":1555,"topic":1645,"slug":1557,"activity":1646,"nid":1559,"topics":1647,"activities":1648,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1649,"tags":1650,"authors":1651,"images":1652,"translations":1653,"content":1654},[171],[1067],[],[1067],[],[1570,1578,1579,1580,1581,1582],[1584],[],[],[],{"id":1656,"name":1657},1303,"Environment",[1659],{"id":1584,"news_id":1660,"authors_id":1671},{"id":1550,"status":13,"user_created":211,"date_created":1551,"user_updated":212,"date_updated":1552,"title":1553,"type":1060,"body":1554,"image":1563,"date":1555,"topic":1661,"slug":1557,"activity":1662,"nid":1559,"topics":1663,"activities":1664,"programme":14,"area":14,"websites":14,"translation_of":14,"language":172,"countries":1665,"tags":1666,"authors":1667,"images":1668,"translations":1669,"content":1670},[171],[1067],[],[1067],[],[1570,1578,1579,1580,1581,1582],[1584],[],[],[],{"id":1672,"name":1673,"position":14,"image":14},549,"Prof Anne Peters",[],[],[],42,1780676622170]