Uganda commenced the National Risk Assessment (NRA) process in early 2016 using the World Bank’s NRA tool and methodology to identify, assess and mitigate its Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing risks. Experts of the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) have been providing technical assistance and throughout the process that is now on the brink of being successfully completed.

Today (7 December 2016), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its latest evaluation of Switzerland. According to this FATF report, Switzerland’s regulatory framework on anti-money laundering and terrorism financing (AML/CFT) is well developed, but its application shows certain weaknesses.

Romania has recently launched a project to “Support achieving the National Anticorruption Strategy objectives by increasing the efficiency of the asset recovery and management”. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC), through the Swiss-Romanian Co-operation Programme.

Between July and December 2016, as part of the DFID-funded and ASI-managed SUGAR programme, ICAR experts delivered a series of four workshops on financial investigation and asset recovery to investigators and prosecutors from a range of Ugandan law enforcement and prosecuting authorities.

The training team chose a multi-phase approach for Uganda, which included the training of nearly 100 practitioners as well as the selection and training of three highly competent local trainers.

From 16 to 20 January 2017, experts from the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) conducted the first training workshop in the Train-the-Trainer programme for the Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Firstly there needs to be the desire, both in terms of public consensus as well as at governmental level, though some could argue these should be one and the same in an ideal world. Subsequently, the rule of law underlines the principles of a democratic government and there is no scope, in most cases, to deviate from the law, however damning the circumstances might be.

The Basel Institute on Governance welcomes the recent decisions by courts in Luxembourg and Switzerland to return almost USD 17 million to Peru in cases related to the regime of former Peruvian President Fujimori. We congratulate the involved authorities in Peru, Luxembourg and Switzerland for the successful conclusion of these 15-year old cases. We are honoured to have been able to support this successful outcome.

The Basel Institute on Governance welcomes the successful conclusion of a case of asset recovery involving the UK and Kenya. The assets in the amount of £2,222,957 were confiscated by Mr Recorder Andrew Mitchel QC in the case of R v Smith and Ouzman. The UK authorities decided that an amount of £349,057.39 should be used to purchase specialised ambulances that were formally handed over to the Kenyan Government on 17 March. The purchase of ambulances with the returned assets meets urgent needs in the Kenyan health care delivery system.

The Lausanne Process consists of seminars (Lausanne seminars) addressed to practitioners in the field of asset recovery. Switzerland has been hosting them regularly since 2001. Experience has shown that close cooperation between the countries involved, particularly at the judicial level, that is at the stage of mutual legal assistance, is of key importance for the successful restitution of such funds. The Lausanne seminars are intended to transfer practical knowledge and to help strengthen international cooperation and coordination between requesting and requested states.

The Basel Institute on Governance and the Peruvian Judiciary organized a training seminar on anti-corruption and asset recovery aimed at building capacity in innovative methods to fight cross border corruption. The four day training is the first of a series of capacity building events requested by the Peruvian authorities and was delivered to the recently installed unit of judges specialized in corruption of public officials, created by the judicial authorities to deal with the Odebrecht scandal.