Anti-corruption practitioners at Tanzania’s Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) are now better able to translate corruption research and data into actionable anti-corruption insights.

Financial investigators in Malawi have gained – and practised in mock interviews as part of a simulated investigation – vital skills in obtaining financial information from individuals involved in corruption cases.

Four graduates of our successful train-the-trainer programme have delivered high-impact training to over 300 law enforcement professionals in Tanzania and Zanzibar over the last year.

Between them, the trainers – themselves anti-corruption practitioners – have delivered multiple intensive training seminars and introductory courses on financial investigation, anti-money laundering, asset recovery and mutual legal assistance.

Financial investigators in Tanzania are sharpening their interviewing skills thanks to specialised training by the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR).

Mozambican prosecutors, judges and other anti-corruption practitioners came together from 4–8 November 2019 for a deep dive into the real-life issues of conducting financial investigations and recovering stolen assets.

During 14–18 October 2019, experts from the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) conducted a 5-day training workshop in Jakarta, Indonesia as part of USAID CEGAH’s on-going programming with KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission), Office of the Attorney-General (AGO) and Ministry of Law and Human Rights relating to beneficial ownership.

At the opening of a five-day workshop in Malawi on Mutual Legal Assistance and the Misuse of Offshore Structures to Conceal Beneficial Ownership, the Honourable Justice Dr. Chifundo Kachale hit the nail on the head. Imprisonment alone is not enough, he said. Recovering the stolen assets sends a strong message that crime does not, and should not, pay.

Another 30 specialised judges in Peru have benefited from innovative training in Extinción de Dominio, a new form of legislation that allows stolen assets to be confiscated even if the asset holder cannot formally be convicted of a crime.

The two-day course, which took place on 3–4 September in the Superior Court of the city of Trujillo, is part of a wider series of training programmes aimed at building the capacity of specialised judges across Peru to implement the new legislation.

There are still a few spaces available on a two-day FinTech AML Compliance course on cryptocurrencies and money laundering. The course is delivered by the Basel Institute in partnership with Swiss law firm MME and will take place on 10–11 December at MME's offices in Zurich, Switzerland.

Mark Pieth, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Basel and founder/President of the Board of the Basel Institute, has been appointed to the University of the Western Cape in South Africa as an Extraordinary Professor.