Where corruption is already rampant, a crisis makes it worse. There are flash floods of relief money landing in contexts where power is imbalanced, governance is weak and criminals already know how to game the system. But we can fight back by making anti-corruption an integral part of crisis relief efforts. Like emergencies in the past, the covid-19 pandemic demonstrates that anti-corruption is not just a nice-to-have but can really save lives.

Our Head of Compliance and Collective Action Gemma Aiolfi has turned her decades of experience in anti-corruption compliance and corporate governance into a practical guide for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

I recently spoke about Collective Action as part of a virtual panel discussion along with Andrey Tsyganov, Deputy Minister of Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service, on the topic of New Russian Antimonopoly Regulations. The webinar was organised by the Russian Business Ethics Network and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, and is available on YouTube here.

The success of the Construction Transparency Initiative (CoST) in Malawi shows the impact Collective Action can have on addressing corruption and levelling the playing field even in difficult environments. But it needs perseverance, leadership and systematic efforts to drive policy change, as our interview below with Joe Chingani, Chairperson of CoST Malawi, demonstrates. First, some background.

Gemma Aiolfi, Head of Compliance and Collective Action, will explore some thorny areas of anti-corruption and human rights risk assessment and compliance during a forthcoming virtual “pre-evening dialogue” of the UN Global Compact Network in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The focus is on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with limited resources to address due diligence, and more broadly compliance risks. The topic, though, is relevant to all companies who need to address both corruption and human rights risks in their international business operations.

In this article, Juhani Grossmann, IWT Team Leader at the Basel Institute on Governance, explores the role of public-private partnerships in tackling illegal wildlife trade (IWT).

This is the second article in our short series of perspectives on IWT and financial crime, in collaboration with the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators. 

The recently published Global Mapping of Anti-Corruption Authorities fills a critical gap in information about national anti-corruption authorities (ACAs) around the world. ACAs are key institutions to prevent and combat corruption, but until now centralised data on their mandates, activities and even existence has been lacking.

The global disruption from covid-19 to health and economic systems has magnified risks to preserving business integrity that will have longstanding impact. As a result, the pandemic is drawing significant attention to several of the world’s largest Collective Action initiatives that are reinforcing ethical business conduct in healthcare. The timing and actions of these initiatives could not be more critical in our crisis recovery efforts.