Why is international cooperation in asset recovery cases based on illicit enrichment/unexplained wealth laws a particularly challenging issue? This is a question we have received from many corners of the world following our publication last year of an open-access book on Illicit Enrichment: A Guide to Laws Targeting Unexplained Wealth.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has recommended the use of Collective Action to address corruption in its long-anticipated revised Recommendation of the Council for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions ("2021 Anti-Bribery Recommendation").

A guest blog by Bernard O’Donnell, Head of Fraud Investigations at the European Investment Bank (EIB), and Sabine Zindera, Vice President, Legal and Compliance at Siemens AG and head of the Siemens Integrity Initiative.

When companies are sanctioned for wrongdoing, is there a way to turn the punitive sanction into a positive force – not only for those wronged, but for wider business integrity around the world?

Oscar Solórzano, Head of Latin America at the Basel Institute on Governance and Senior Asset Recovery Specialist at our International Centre for Asset Recovery, interviewed Dr Hamilton Castro Trigoso, Provincial Prosecutor of the First Provisional Provincial Prosecutor's Office for Extinción de dominio in Lima, on his experiences in investigating and enforcing asset confiscation judgements abroad.

Bila watu hufiki popote. “Without people or connections you won’t reach anywhere,” said a Tanzanian businessman participating in our recently completed research project on informal networks and corruption.

His words encapsulate something we see time and again in our research on corruption: that bribery is far more than just a brute monetary transaction.

Often more important, and far less studied, are the informal social networks that connect private individuals and public officials.

As world leaders gather this week at COP26 to negotiate their climate change commitments, we ask – will they include a credible commitment to fight corruption?

Because if there is one thing that will scupper efforts to address the climate crisis, it is corruption. Yet corruption is strangely missing from the conversation. Here are some things that deserve to be talked about louder.