The Basel Institute has been working with the Ministry of Justice of Romania in a two-component project seeking to enhance the capacity of the Romanian authorities to recover the proceeds of crime. The project is being implemented by the Asset Recovery Office (ARO) of the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) of the Basel Institute. Funding of the project has been provided by the Swiss-Romanian Co-operation Programme.

The Basel Institute on Governance participated in several workshops between 8 and 9 October 2012 with key stakeholders of the South African anti-corruption system (Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority, Special Investigating Unit, Department of Public Service Administration, South African Revenue Services, National Treasury, Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations of the South African Police Services) at a special session hosted by the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT).

The note evaluates the current legislation on the asset recovery process both at the EU and Member States level, with a view to assessing the need and the feasibility of establishing EU regulation on the use of confiscated assets for civil society and in particular for social purposes.

Does e-government have an impact in reducing corruption? Do e-government solutions sufficiently take private sector perspectives into account to maximise its potential for addressing corruption risks? 

An expert from the International Centre for Asset Recovery, a part of the Basel Institute on Governance, visited Mozambique between 10-14 October with a view to conduct an on-site assessment of the anti-corruption legislative package that had been proposed by the Council of Ministers to the Assembly of the Republic. The project, jointly financed by USAID and DfID, sought to assess the impact of the package in the Mozambican legal system, as well as to benchmark it with the international and regional standards on preventing and combating corruption.

Switzerland is frequently accused of being reluctant to take thorough measures to fight money laundering. Both the Swiss authorities and the banks in Switzerland strongly reject such accusations. We are convinced that our anti-money laundering measures are best market practice.