In mid 2014, Ms Gemma Aiofli, Head of Compliance and Corporate Governance was elected board member of Ethics and Compliance Switzerland (ECS). This newly established organisation is the first cross-industry and cross-sectorial association in Switzerland promoting ethical leadership and organizational integrity.

To date the ECS counts 14 organisational and 40 individual members. On 2 October 2014, the Basel Institute will be hosting the ECS’s kick-off meeting to discuss the development of the SME Compliance Tool Kit. The meeting is open for all interested parties.

ICAR is partnering with two non-for-profit organisations in Romania, the Journalism Development Network and the Rise Project, to launch the 3-year "Mapping and Visualizing Cross-Border Crime Project.”

With funding support from the Swiss–Romanian Cooperation Programme, the objective is to enhance the investigative and research skills of journalists, civil society activists and law enforcement in Romania to detect and uncover local and cross-border illicit networks and to increase the exposure of organised crime structures as well as their modus of operandi.

At the request of the Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA), ICAR is currently preparing and developing a one-year multi-component capacity building programme in asset recovery and financial investigation for the KACA.

The Basel Institute is partnering with Adams Smith International (ASI), Integrity Action and other expert organisations to implement a five-year multi-component anti-corruption project in Uganda ("Strengthening Uganda's Anti-Corruption and Accountability Regime Anti-Corruption Chain”) funded by the UK Department for International Development.

The Basel Institute’s primary role will focus on providing technical support and legal advice to Uganda’s local anti-corruption authorities on matters related to asset recovery.

Specialists in international mutual legal assistance, financial investigation, intelligence gathering and asset recovery from some 30 countries and international organisations met in Lausanne from 21 to 23 February 2016 for the ‘Lausanne IX’ seminar on the efficient recovery of stolen PEP assets.

In September 2016, ICAR kicked off a new 3.5 year program of work in support of Malawi's key law enforcement agencies and their efforts to tackle serious corruption and related financial crimes. Financed with a grant from the UK Department for International Development, the program is a continuation and expansion of the already on-going work of ICAR - also funded by DFID - in Malawi, in the course of which two embedded experts were supporting Malawi authorities in the investigation and prosecution of the so-called Cashgate scandals. The latter continues to be a priority.

On 22 March 2017, the Basel Institute on Governance and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) have entered into an agreement whereby ICAR will assist NABU in strengthening their capacities to conduct complex investigations into cases of grand corruption, money laundering and related financial crimes. The support involves both assistance in on-going investigations as well as providing ICAR’s signature training.

The Basel Institute, one of the founding members of the Board of the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), participated in this year’s Spring meeting of the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (WEF PACI). The event focused on sharing views on how to rebuild trust and integrity in business and government. PACI’s work is driven by the active participation of its community including the PACI Vanguard Board. Key takeaways included:

ICAR continues to work closely with a series of partner countries increasing their autonomy in the fight against financial crimes and money laundering as well as in recovering stolen public funds. ICAR’s current partner countries in the context of its capacity building services include Bulgaria, Romania, Tanzania and Uganda. 

The Basel Institute and the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) will work together to provide expert support to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in the framework of SDC's thematic network on democratisation, decentralisation and local government (DDLG).  IDS is a leading global institution for development research, teaching and learning, and impact and communications, based at the University of Sussex.