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.

On 4–5 July in Lugano, Switzerland, the Ukraine Recovery Conference will see leaders from around the world pledge hopefully billions to finance Ukraine's post-war recovery and reconstruction.

Will they be talking about corruption?

Switzerland has launched administrative proceedings to confiscate over USD 100 million in assets linked to the regime of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, with the ultimate aim of returning these to Ukraine.

The assets are held by a close associate of the former president, Yuriy Ivanyushchenko and his family. They have been frozen in Switzerland since Yanukovych was deposed in Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity.

At a high-profile speech at the Ukraine 30 Forum last week, the Basel Institute's Managing Director Gretta Fenner emphasised that it is critical that Ukraine swiftly and professionally concludes the asset recovery processes started after the Revolution of Dignity. She also urged the country to fully empower its anti-corruption institutions and reduce the hurdles that have been put in their ways. High levels of corruption continue to drain the country's resources and threaten its democracy.

A fresh agreement between the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) in Ukraine and the Basel Institute on Governance, signed in Kyiv on 2 February 2021, sets the stage for a continued fruitful cooperation on the country’s asset recovery efforts.

The agreement supports the efforts of the OPG to recover assets belonging to Ukraine that were illegally appropriated by former high-ranking officials and related individuals and legal entities.