Asset recovery tools are integral to combatting corruption, organised crime, sanctions evasion and other profit-motivated crimes. However, in many states, the range of asset recovery tools available to law enforcement and criminal justice agencies is limited. 

This quick guide examines the established good practices in asset recovery legislation as well as less conventional, broader measures. It shows how states can widen their asset recovery toolkit and increase the potential for asset recovery success. 

Asset recovery is a critical tool in the fight against corruption and organised crime. But what happens after assets have been confiscated? How can they be most effectively repurposed, in order to contribute to sustainable and equitable development? 

This Quick Guide examines the various approaches that states take along these lines – how they allocate recovered funds towards general government spending, redirect assets towards public interest causes or repatriate assets to their country of origin. 

The art market is often described as ‘niche’. In reality, it is a significant trade industry: sales of art and antiques by dealers and auction houses reached an estimated USD 65.1 billion in 2021. And like many industries of this size, it attracts people seeking to abuse it to launder proceeds of crime or evade sanctions.

This quick guide briefly explains the unique characteristics of the art market that make it vulnerable to this type of abuse. It also outlines steps that jurisdictions can take to prevent and combat abuse of the sector for illicit purposes.

This handbook, written in Ukrainian, serves as an introduction to the online training course for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on anti-corruption, which is currently being developed by the UN Global Compact Network Ukraine. 

The course aims to increase understanding of business transparency and how it can be improved through Collective Action. The ultimate goal is to enhance Ukraine's position in global indices.

This 20-minute course on Collective Action, developed by the United Nations Global Compact, offers a basic introduction and some initial ideas on how to get started. 

Course description

Joining efforts through anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives is a powerful way to level the playing field through the creation of fair and honest market conditions for all.

This quick guide sets out how criminals abuse the gambling industry to launder illicit funds. It includes numerous recent case studies to illustrate different ways of laundering money in casinos, online gambling websites, bars and clubs, as well as physical and online sports betting services.

The guide also looks at what gambling businesses and public authorities can do to better prevent and detect money laundering in this industry.

As part of a multi-year engagement in Kenya, the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery is monitoring the progress of certain corruption cases in court. The aim is to identify reasons for delays in major corruption trials, as a basis for developing reforms to streamline and speed up the court process. In this quick guide, our Court Monitor Mary Muthoni explains the what, why and how of court monitoring more generally. 

The guide covers:

This quick guide explains the role of national risk assessments in addressing money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks.

It explains how national risk assessments are conducted, challenges in terms of methodology and data availability, and how well countries are doing at performing them.

NRAs are a critical element of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards on ML/TF. They also provide data in special reports of the Basel AML Index.

What role could tax investigations play in detecting, investigating and prosecuting cases of illegal wildlife trade? Potentially a large one, with the right coordination and capacity.

Broadly, “internal controls” refers to systems of policies, procedures and practices to prevent, detect and respond to issues, errors and irregularities. 

Systems of internal control can be very effective in addressing corrupt conduct, which is the focus of this quick guide. But internal controls can also address other problems that affect an organisation’s efficiency and effectiveness, such as poor employee performance or the failure to accomplish important organisational goals.