The following briefing notes are taken from the concept note for a side event at the Conference of States Parties (COSP) in Abu Dhabi on 20 December 2019.
The Basel Institute's International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) is hosting a side event on "Living up to the spirit of articles 43 and 46 UNCAC" at the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption (COSP8).
UNCAC Articles 43 and 46 deal with international cooperation and mutual legal assistance.
Kateryna Boguslavska, Project Manager of the Basel AML Index, spoke at the 12th European Conference on Tax Advisers’ Professional Affairs on 29 November 2019 in Paris. The conference was hosted by CFE Tax Advisers Europe and the Institut des Avocats Conseils Fiscaux (IACF).
What are best practices to promote transparency and accountability in the return of stolen assets?
This was the focus of a side event of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group on 9 October 2019 at the OECD headquarters in Paris. The event gathered authorities and experts from the G20 countries plus international organisations including the World Bank and United Nations.
Basel Institute senior advisor and former board member Hans-Peter Bauer presented at the Baltic AML Forum on 2 October on the topic of Country Risk Assessment - A Difficult Task.
The Forum was opened by the Lithuanian Minister of Finance and attended by 150 participants, who were mainly compliance officers and tech experts from Baltic-region banks, FinTech companies and cryptocurrency ventures.
The ultimate aim of fighting corruption and returning stolen assets is to fight poverty and achieve sustainable development – and asset recovery is therefore not a nice-to-have but an obligation under international law.
Public governance experts and other practitioners are increasingly interested in the role of social norms and cultural codes in driving – or preventing – behaviour, including corrupt behaviour, and shaping the governance capacity of public and administrative bodies.
Oscar Solorzano, Senior Asset Recovery Specialist and Manager of the Basel Institute's regional office in Peru, emphasised that asset recovery should be elevated to a national priority in a high-level conference panel at the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 18 July 2019.
He was speaking alongside José Valencia, Ecuador's Minister of Foreign Affairs (centre), and Gonzalo Salvador, Coordinador General de Asesoría Jurídica, responsible for coordinating legal advice within the Ministry (right).
Gemma Aiolfi, Head of Compliance, Corporate Governance and Collective Action at the Basel Institute, gave the opening speech at the 3rd Swiss Global Compact Dialogue today in the Swiss lakeside town of Thun.