Elmer Chirre, Peru's Specialised Prosecutor for Corruption, and Amado Enco, Specialised Anti-Corruption State Attorney, have jointly recovered over PEN 65 million (USD 19.5 million) in the first successful asset recovery case related to Operation Car Wash.
The Framework for the Return of Assets from Corruption and Crime in Kenya (FRACCK), agreed and signed by the Governments of Kenya, Jersey, Switzerland and the UK in 2018 with support from the Basel Institute's International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR), is already generating strong interest for its "innovative" and "novel" approach to asset return.
These were the words of Brigitte Strobel-Shaw, Officer-in-Charge of the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch of the UNODC, during a May 7-9 International Expert Meeting on the Return of Stolen Assets.
Experts from the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery and country office in Peru conducted a Financial Investigations and Asset Recovery training workshop in Quito, Ecuador from 6–10 May 2019.
The High Court of Piura in northwestern Peru has announced it will set up a specialised court for cases relating to a new law on extinción de dominio (which roughly translates as "extinction of possession"), a form of non-conviction-based asset forfeiture.
Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered 19 corruptly acquired assets worth KES 2,730,571,000 (over USD 27 million) in the first four months of 2019 alone. The assets – a mix of cash and landed properties, including a fire station, Kenya Railways land and a beachfront property – are being returned to the public treasury, along with significant fines paid by individuals convicted of corruption and bribery.
Publication
Threat Finance
From the Taliban in Southwest Asia to al Shabaab in the Horn of Africa to drug-trafficking organizations in Mexico, the behavior, capabilities, and ultimate success or failure of terrorist, criminal, and other transnational threats are closely tied to economic and financial factors.
Publication
Understanding Terrorist Finance
Understanding Terrorist Finance provides powerful new insights into the financial and economic realities of terrorist groups. Dispelling popular myths, the book presents the first unified coherent framework for the systematic analysis of terrorist finance and includes empirical studies of the financing of groups in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East.
We have just published our 28th Working Paper on a topic that is concerning AML, FinTech and RegTech professionals, finance professionals and law enforcement agencies worldwide - as well as ordinary citizens who wish to take advantage of new payment methods.
The topic? Regulating cryptocurrencies: challenges and considerations.
Cryptocurrency regulations are developing fast. Across the world, authorities are reacting to the emerging threat posed by criminals using new payment methods to conceal and launder the proceeds of their crimes.
However, as the application of anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) due diligence requirements becomes stricter and more entities implement preventative measures, criminals are constantly looking elsewhere for potential havens for their illicit activities.
The third meeting of the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators in Basel this March brought together some of the world’s top academic and litigation professionals in the field of financial crime.