In this short interview, Susanne Friedrich, Director of the Alliance for Integrity, offers her insights into the current challenges faced by SMEs and how Collective Action can help them emerge stronger on the other side.

As we write in our 2019 Annual Report, our International Centre for Asset Recovery continues to be one of the only organisations specialised in the recovery of stolen assets. Our focus is on supporting our partner countries in particularly complex cases and the introduction of new working methods and legal and investigative tools.

In this short piece published in the Annual Report, Dr Hamilton Castro, Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor in Peru, explains how the impacts of our joint work go far beyond the money recovered:

In these times of global crisis, strong and transparent management of public finances is even more essential. How governments manage their money has a real and immediate impact on peoples’ lives. It affects critical issues such as access to education and whether hospitals have enough trained staff and medical equipment.

The Banknote Ethics Initiative (BnEI) has made great strides since 2013 in promoting the highest standards of integrity and fair competition in the banknote sector. Now it's one of the first business-led initiatives to promote Integrity Pacts as a tool to safeguard banknote-related procurement from corruption risks.

The high level of confidentiality needed in this sector adds an extra challenge to the mix. The BnEI's Chairman, Antti Heinonen, gives a short insight into the project in the text below, which also appears in our 2019 Annual Report:

Media reports of corruption arising from coronavirus-related aid and emergency procurement are starting to circulate. Crises such as the current one, in common with natural disaster situations, inevitably increase the risks of corruption. And that increases the importance of strong corruption prevention.

In her Annual Report presentation to the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique broadcast on national television, the Attorney General of Mozambique, Beatriz Buchili, emphasised the need for approval of a new Asset Recovery Bill.

This important law will provide Mozambique with more effective ways to recover stolen assets. It also establishes the new Mozambican Asset Recovery Office and Asset Management Office.

The Basel Institute on Governance is delighted to announce it has recently become an affiliated partner to the Network of Corruption Prevention Authorities (NCPA).

Following the financial trail is a daunting task, said Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo, Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), at the start of a scoping mission by the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR).

But, she continued, although asset recovery is complex and reliant on international cooperation, it is the most effective way to curb corruption.

The Basel Institute is delighted to announce its support for the new Asia-Pacific Integrity School.

Industry leaders committed to tackling wildlife crime gathered at St. James's Palace today for a high-level joint meeting of the United for Wildlife Taskforces.

The UfW Transport and Financial Taskforces, an initiative of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, bring together major transport companies and financial institutions from around the world with law enforcement and experts in illegal wildlife trade (IWT).