See summary report released in December 2021: Boosting Co-operation in Asset Recovery: Exploring the Potential of Private Sector Engagement and Public-Private Collaboration
How can law enforcement agencies, financial intelligence units and private financial institutions such as banks work better together to identify, freeze and confiscate criminal assets?
The ability to forge personal relationships and network with counterparts from other professions and agencies was somewhat lost during the pandemic restrictions. But the latest International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) training programme delivered in Malawi was a strong reminder of just how important this personal networking is in the fight against corruption.
This case study examines a 2021 unexplained wealth (illicit enrichment) case in Kenya involving a former Chief Accountant at the Treasury, Patrick Ochieno Abachi.
The case is related to Kenya’s so-called Anglo Leasing scandal, in which 18 high-value government security contracts were allegedly awarded to fictitious companies in the early 2000s. It illustrates one set of circumstances in which civil unexplained wealth (or civil illicit enrichment) legislation can be an extremely useful tool to target assets stolen through corruption.
A newly published Compendium of Jurisprudence on Extinción de Dominio will enable Peruvian judges, prosecutors and other law enforcement actors to assess progress and legal precedents in the implementation of Peru’s 2019 law on non-conviction based confiscation (Extinción de dominio).
This annex is a compilation of all the relevant legislative instruments located during the research process behind the book Illicit Enrichment: A Guide to Laws Targeting Unexplained Wealth by Andrew Dornbierer, published by the Basel Institute on Governance in June 2021.
In line with the definitions contained in Part 1 of the main publication, the laws included in this annex have been categorised as either:
This annex complements the book Illicit Enrichment: A Guide to Laws Targeting Unexplained Wealth by Andrew Dornbierer, published by the Basel Institute on Governance in June 2021.
It provides technical guidance to investigators and prosecutors on how to collect and analyse financial information and evidence to establish that a person has illicitly enriched themselves.
Claims that Switzerland is “paternalistic” in its approach to returning stolen assets to their rightful countries are simplistic, argues Senior Asset Recovery Specialist Oscar Solórzano in this opinion article for Swiss news and information platform Swissinfo. The article is available on the Swissinfo site in German and Spanish.
What does the web of connections look like that underlies grand corruption and money laundering schemes and the abuse of offshore financial centres? Who are the people involved, how do they interact and what do they do?
And what insights can we draw by looking at complex corruption and money laundering schemes from the perspective of social networks, rather than solely individuals?
These questions are at the heart of a new analysis of the so-called Lava Jato or Odebrecht scandal that has engulfed Latin America.
This working paper is based on an empirical investigation of corruption and illicit exchange related to the so-called “Lava Jato” or “Odebrecht” scandal. Focusing on former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo and his laundering of bribes obtained from the construction giant Odebrecht, the analysis aims to test the usefulness of applying a network lens to better understand the mechanisms underlying grand corruption cases.
Money laundering risks evolve fast, as do the tools and data available to assess them. That is why the Basel AML Index – the Basel Institute’s flagship index of money laundering risks around the world – updates its methodology every year, following an in-depth review with a group of experts from diverse backgrounds.