As every year when the time comes to write the foreword for our Annual Report, we are filled with pride, gratitude and a sense of satisfaction. It is a privilege to work with passionate people, committed partners and supportive donors, and to work toward a goal that helps make this world a better place.

We know who whistleblowers are: employees or others who raise a report relating to possible breaches of the law, government regulations or their company’s code of conduct. While whistleblowing itself is not hard to define, developing legal protection for whistleblowers in Switzerland has been a long saga that has now ground to a halt.

An exclusive interview with Elmer Chirre Castillo (photo: right), Provincial Prosecutor of the Third Anti-Corruption Supraprovincial Prosecutor's Office of Lima. 

By Oscar Solorzano (photo: left), Senior Asset Recovery Specialist and Country Manager for the Basel Institute's Peru country office.

On February 3, 2019, 37-year-old former mayor of San Salvador Nayib Bukele – the charismatic, anti-establishment, fringe-party candidate – won 53 percent of the vote in El Salvador’s presidential election. He takes office in June. The challenge confronting Bukele is stark, especially when it comes to the rule of law. But there are concrete things the international community can do to help the new president and his citizens.

There's no time like the present for anti-corruption Collective Action in Malawi, as the country gears up to review and update its National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

Malawi, also known as the warm heart of Africa, is famous for its open and welcoming people and of course for one of the most spectacular lakes in the world, but it is also a county that has been shaken-up by massive corruption scandals in the past decade that have left their mark.

"For fighting corruption, the focus is very much on what the private sector do. And we're turning very much to India and China as places where things are happening." 

Basel Institute President Mark Pieth talks to Jessica Davis Plüss at swissinfo.ch about corruption and the private sector's role in tackling it. 

Pieth also touches upon inequality, populist governments, tax fraud and the need for tax harmonisation. "Can we worldwide agree on some kind of level or will people escape to places like Switzerland to pay less taxes than otherwise?"

Basel Institute President Mark Pieth was interviewed by cash.ch journalist Daniel Hügli at the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos. See the original interview here.

Below is the (unofficial) English translation of his comments on commodity trading, gold supply chains and clean investments. 

On 24 April, the Ukraine Anti-Corruption Action Centre, jointly with Ukrainska Prvada & GOPAC Ukraine, hosted an international conference to discuss and identify challenges relating to the recovery of assets stolen by former President Yanukovych and his associates, and thereby to initiate a (inter-) national dialogue to address these challenges. ICAR spoke on modalities for the return of stolen assets, alongside senior representatives from the Ukraine government and Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and the US, as well as specialist civil society organisations.

Good corporate governance plays an essential role in managing corporate risk. Primarily, it is designed to identify, manage and mitigate the risks that face companies operating in a multitude of countries and cultures. The Basel Institute regularly provides compliance advice to a wide range of industries and companies. 

Check out our recent FCPA blog: The Basel Art Trade Guidelines 10 years on. 

Thomas Christ, member of the Foundation Board of the Basel Institute, provides a contemporary perspective on an industry sector that has increasingly come into the spotlight of law enforcement and business integrity circles in recent years – the Art Market.