The Basel Institute has published a comprehensive new analysis of corruption and illegal logging in Ukraine. Juhani Grossmann, who leads the Basel Institute’s Green Corruption programme, explains what it covers and why the report comes at a crucial time for Ukraine and its partners.
This case study describes how Switzerland is putting to test a rarely used but powerful law in order to confiscate assets connected to Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity, with the aim of returning these to Ukraine.
Key points:
As the war in Ukraine intensifies, calls are growing for states to confiscate Russian assets frozen under sanctions and redirect them to provide support to Ukraine. Our latest Working Paper argues that states can and should do this by enhancing the effectiveness and scope of established asset recovery measures – not by introducing new untested mechanisms that risk inviting future legal challenges, defeating the purpose of sanctions and violating the rule of law.
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.
Written in the light of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, this Working Paper explores whether it is justifiable to confiscate assets frozen under financial sanctions in order to redirect them to the victims of state aggression.
The paper first explores the concept of sanctions and financial sanctions (asset freezes) and what they mean in practice.
The war in Ukraine has caused hundreds of billions of dollars of damage so far, including to critical infrastructure. Funding the country's ongoing and post-war reconstruction efforts is a topic very much under debate. Some suggest that assets frozen under war-related sanctions could be used to partly fund the reconstruction. Could they? How?
This document takes stock of recent progress in strengthening Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure in the face of increased attacks on infrastructure and increased reconstruction efforts. It covers:
One of the major topics of discussion on- and off-stage at this year’s International Anti-Corruption Conference in Washington D.C. will no doubt be the war of aggression in Ukraine.
A session on 9 December 2022 will explore a tricky but absolutely critical issue: whether and how frozen kleptocratic assets can be confiscated and used to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The Basel Institute on Governance has joined a new coalition of Ukrainian organisations and international partners — RISE Ukraine — that was launched today at the Ukraine Recovery Conference (#URC2022) in Lugano, Switzerland. The coalition promotes a vision of integrity, sustainability and efficiency for the country’s post-war reconstruction.
Ukraine’s recovery will require billions of dollars – so leaders pledging reconstruction funds need to ensure Ukraine’s anti-corruption defences are up to the task. A joint opinion article by Gretta Fenner, Managing Director, Basel Institute on Governance and Andrii Borovyk, Executive Director, Transparency International Ukraine. View it in Ukrainian here.