2011
10/17
Non-State Actors in Asset Recovery

Non-state actors are of fundamental importance in the prevention and combating of corruption within asset recovery processes. Their roles and responsibilities were considered during an experts' meeting hosted by the Basel Institute on Governance and the International Anti-Corruption Academy in September 2010.
This book contains essays presented at the meeting, written by practitioners and academics with extensive experiences in the numerous fields which comprise asset recovery processes. The contributions offer a diversity of views on roles which non-state actors (can) play in preventing and combating corruption and other forms of financial crimes.
The editors conclude by offering insights into ongoing challenges in asset recovery processes and ways to overcome these challenges.

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2011
10/17
Mark Pieth, Harmonising Anti-Corruption Compliance

New anti-corruption laws and intensified law enforcement, in particular in OECD Member States, are motivating companies to implement sound anti-corruption compliance programmes. They will help reduce risk, but they may also serve as a business argument. Yet, companies are increasingly voicing the need for a harmonised approach to compliance. The OECD Guidance enacted in 2010 may well serve as a template for such a standard since it has been adopted by the Member States of the OECD by unanimity. This booklet gives an introduction to anti-corruption compliance and the OECD standards in particular. It should help managers and other corporate practitioners to identify the needs for their company and to know what to ask for.

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2011
10/17
Capacity Building in Asset Recovery

Corruption is one of the endemic evils in today’s world. The phenomenon has negative impacts on world poverty, democratic governance, progress and development. According to the World Bank, USD 20 to 40 billion is lost annually by developing nations because of corruption. With the adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the international community aims at setting up a comprehensive global framework to contain and ultimately lower significantly the levels of corruption worldwide. Chapter IV of the UNCAC focuses on asset recovery and provides tools for effectively fighting corruption.

Asset recovery is the process whereby the proceeds of corruption are traced, frozen, confiscated and repatriated in favour of countries that become victims to corruption. Asset recovery is an effective countermeasure to corruption because it signalises to corrupt leaders that corruption no longer pays. However, many developing countries still lack the skills to collect evidence, prepare indictments, adjudicate cases and obtain convictions.

This publication demonstrates what asset recovery means, and, most importantly, how capacity building is needed to fight corruption in today’s world. Successful asset recovery can function as a powerful tool to repair the damage caused by corruption. Skilled hands can effectively use asset recovery to help bring justice to those who have suffered from the diverse consequences of corruption.

Download Capacity Building in Asset Recovery

2011
07/25
New translation released: Tracing stolen assets - A practitioner's handbook

Каждый год коррупция генерирует доходы в размере миллиардов долларов. Большая часть активов, приобретенных посредством совершения коррупционных преступлений, никогда не будет возвращена потерпевшими странами по простой причине невозможности определить их местонахождение. Прибыль, получаемая в результате совершения преступлений, зачастую переводится в финансовые центры в попытке воспрепятствовать или помешать усилиям правоохранительных органов, направленным на выявление и отслеживание активов, приобретенных преступным путем. Поэтому успех расследования преступлений, связанных с коррупцией в государственных органах, отмыванием денежных средств, а также финансовых преступлений, во многом зависит от способности следователя отследить цепочку, ведущую к собственнику денежных средств и прочих активов.

Во многих странах уголовные расследования в первую очередь направлены на расследование основного из связанных друг с другом преступлений. До сих пор сравнительно редко следователи, в ходе своей повседневной работы по расследованию серьезных преступлений, генерирующих доходы, «следуют за деньгами». Для того чтобы успешно выследить денежные средства и имущество, следователь должен быть оснащен всем необходимым для раскрытия и установления собственнических интересов, которые зачастую маскируются путем изменения формы и характера собственности.

Цель данного справочника заключается в том, что указать следователю на отправную точку, в которой может возбуждаться судебное производство, направленное на изъятие или конфискацию доходов от преступлений. Помимо того, что справочник охватывает этап доследственной проверки и этап следствия, во время которых собирается и проверяется информация, идентифицируются и обнаруживаются активы, он также предоставляет указания, направленные на замораживание или изъятие активов. В намерения авторов данного справочника не входит исчерпывающее описание всего процесса, при помощи которого активы в конечном счете изымаются или конфискуются. Тем не менее данный справочник в действительности освещает некоторые основные шаги, которые должен предпринять следователь, чтобы обеспечить всестороннее и эффективное расследование с целью отслеживания активов.

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Arab version, translated by UNDP Iraq

Russian version

Thai version, translated by NACC Thailand

2011
02/01
New publication: Development Assistance, Asset Recovery and Money Laundering: MAKING THE CONNECTION

The traditional criminal response has been insufficient in the combat against corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes. Billions of dollars continue to be laundered by individuals and criminal organisations through and ever-growing myriad of complex financial schemes. Official Development Assistance (ODA), a fundamental tool of development policy, is equally prone to corruption, embezzlement and abuse — to the extent that up to 30% of disbursements may be siphoned off by corrupt actors and criminal organisations.

The international response to effective combating of such crimes is through the asset recovery process. It is a multi-layered process which spans from intelligence gathering to recovering of stolen assets. Its effectiveness, however, is dependent on knowledge on the process, political will from within and co-ordination of efforts between countries that fall victim to such crimes and countries which are recipients of these proceeds.

This brochure seeks to provide a basic understanding of money laundering and the asset recovery process and their link with development agencies. It covers the definition of money laundering, its predicate offences and some typologies, as well as a basic understanding of the phases and steps which comprise the asset recovery process. Furthermore, it demonstrates how these two fields link with the development agenda. The brochure, however, does not present an exhaustive list of activities that can be pursued by development agencies to reduce money laundering and corruption in their disbursements and in recipient countries, but rather seeks to inspire people to reflect on activities that may be pursued to reduce money laundering and corruption through asset recovery.

Download the brochure.

2010
05/21
Nouvelle parution: Tracing stolen assets - A practitioner's handbook

La corruption génère des milliards de dollars chaque année. Une grande partie des avoirs acquis au moyen d'actes de corruption ne peut jamais être récupérée par les pays victimes pour la simple raison qu'il n'était pas possible de les localiser. Les produits générés par les activités criminelles sont souvent transférés dans des centres financiers dans le but d'entraver ou de compliquer les efforts déployés par les autorités répressives pour identifier et localiser les avoirs illicites. Par conséquent, le succès des investigations en matière de corruption publique, de blanchiment d'argent et en général en matière de criminalité financière dépend largement de la capacité de l'enquêteur à dépister la propriété des fonds et autres biens.

Dans de nombreux pays, les enquêtes criminelles sont essentiellement dirigées contre ces nouvelles formes de criminalité. Il reste tout de même, relativement difficile pour les enquêteurs dans leur travail quotidien de lutte contre les produits importants générés par le crime, de reconstituer les flux financiers. Pour suivre avec succès les flux financiers et les biens illicites, l'enquêteur doit être bien équipé pour être capable de remonter jusqu’au propriétaire et à l’origine des avoirs concernés qui sont la plupart du temps dissimulés.

Ce manuel se veut un guide pratique destiné à l'enquêteur qui pourrait s'engager dans une procédure judiciaire visant à la saisie et la confiscation des produits du crime. Il couvre dans la première partie, les phases de la pré-enquête et de l'enquête, phases au cours desquelles des informations sont recueillies et vérifiées, les avoirs identifiés et localisés. Dans la seconde partie, il fournit des conseils pratiques en matière de blocage ou de saisie des avoirs. Ce manuel ne prétend pas traiter de manière exhaustive, l'ensemble du processus au terme duquel les avoirs sont définitivement saisis ou confisqués. Cependant, les auteurs mettent en évidence l'essentiel des grandes étapes que devrait suivre un enquêteur afin de garantir une procédure approfondie et efficace de dépistage des avoirs.

 
Télécharger le Manuel du praticien: Tracing stolen assets (en anglais)

2009
10/16
New book released: Non-State Actors as Standard Setters

This analysis of 'globalised' standard-setting processes draws together insights from law, political sciences, sociology and social anthropology to assess the authority and accountability of non-state actors and the legitimacy and effectiveness of the processes. The essays offer new understandings of current governance problems, including environmental and financial standards, rules for military contractors and complex public-private partnerships, such as those intended to protect critical information infrastructure. The contributions also evaluate multi-stakeholder initiatives (such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative), and discuss the constitution of public norms in stateless areas. A synopsis of the latest results of the World Governance Indicator, arguably one of the most important surveys in the area today, is included.

See more information and buy the book on Cambridge University Press website.

2009
09/04
TI Global Corruption Report 2009

Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report 2009 (GCR09) brings together leading scholars, business practitioners and civil society experts to examine a broad range of persistent and emerging corruption risks for business, assess the efficacy of existing remedies, and propose practical and innovative measures to strengthen and future-proof corporate integrity.
The report includes a contribution by Gretta Fenner-Zinkernagel from the Basel Institute on Governance.

2009
05/29
New book released: International Law and Standards Applicable in Natural Disaster Situations

The International Development Law Organization (IDLO) has published the first
manual on international legal issues relating to post-disaster rehabilitation efforts.
The Manual on International Law and Standards Applicable in Natural Disaster
Situations aims to assist relief workers, particularly non-lawyers, in developing
humanitarian responses to natural disaster situations, and also serves as a tool
for state authorities and relief organizations to reform domestic legal, regulatory
and policy frameworks.

The Book is available on the IDLO website.

2009
05/19
New book released: Countering Terrorist Financing

This book contains essays presented at the seminar written by practitioners and academics with extensive experience in the field of CTF. The authors offer a diversity of views on the domestic, regional and international initiatives aimed at detecting terrorist funds in the financial system, preventing terrorists from moving their money via alternative financial channels and facilitating the recovery of terrorist assets. The editors conclude with in-sights into the ongoing challenge of making CTF measures both effective and legally sustainable in the lead-up to Giessbach III in December 2009.

Contents

• Micheline Calmy-Rey: Preface
• Guido Steinberg: Al-Qaida and Jihadist terrorism after 2001
• Kristel Grace Poh: Measures to counter the financing of terrorism
• Bob Upton: The financing of terror: a private sector perspective
• Yehuda Shaffer: Detecting terrorist financing through financial intelligence: the role of FIUs
• Henriette Haas: Systematic Observation as a tool in combating terrorism
• Giuseppe Lombardo: Terrorist financing and cash couriers: legal and practical issues related to the implementation of FATF Special Recommendation IX
• Kilian Strauss: Combating terrorist financing: are transition countries the weak link?
• Marco Gercke: Cyberterrorism: how terrorists use the Internet
• Stephen Baker: The misuse of offshore structures so as to assist the financing of terrorism
• Mark Pieth/Stephanie Eymann: Combating the financing of terrorism: the 'Guantanamo Principle'
• Jacques Rayroud: The UN listing system: challenges for criminal justice authorities
• Yara Esquivel Soto: An autonomous offence for the financing of terrorism: notes from an Ibero-American perspective
• Scott Vesel: Combating the financing of terrorism while protecting human rights: a dilemma?
• Radha Ivory: Recovering terrorist assets in the United Kingdom: the 'domestication' of international standards on counter-terrorist financing
• Mark Pieth/Daniel Thelesklaf/Radha Ivory: The international counter-terrorist financing regime at the cross-roads.

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2008
05/20
Mark Pieth (ed.), Recovering Stolen Assets

With a preface by Eva Joly, Peter Lang AG, 2008. ISBN: 987-3-03911-583-9.

Authors: Alan Bacarese, Hans-Peter Bauer, Bernard Bertossa, René Brühlhart, Daniel Claman, Tim Daniel & James Maton, Paul Gully-Hart, Willie Hofmeyr, Cornelis de Jong, Guillermo Jorge, Anne Lugon-Moulin, Antenor Madruga, Simeon V. Marcelo, Enrico Monfrini, Pierre-Yves Morier, Nikos Passas, Mark Pieth, Nuhu Ribadu, Sergio Salvioni, Mary-Jane Schirber & Frank E. Hydoski, Jean-Bernard Schmid, Pietro Veglio & Peter Siegenthaler, and Dimitri Vlassis & Dorothee Gottwald.

Abstract: Development efforts will remain frustrated so long as corrupt leaders continue to steal their countries' wealth and dispose of these ill-gotten gains in foreign jurisdictions. The prevention of such looting, and the recovery of the stolen assets are thus critical development issues and a cornerstone of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (2003) (UNCAC). However, to date experience with asset recovery is limited, and a number of legal and other obstacles continue to impede progress.

This is the first comprehensive work on asset recovery, written by renowned practitioners and academics representing different legal systems and countries, all of whom have extensive experience in the asset recovery field. The authors notably discuss the 'success stories' of the past (the recovery of the assets of Sani Abacha, Ferdinand Marcos and Vladimiro Montesinos) and the concrete challenges for thefuture with regard to search, seizure, confiscation and repatriation of stolen assets. The book also provides perspectives on the role of technical assistance and donors in asset recovery and the likely impact of the UNCAC.

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2004
05/20
Mark Pieth/Gemma Aiolfi (ed.), A Comparative Guide to Anti-Money Laundering, A Critical Analysis of Systems in Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the USA

Study by the Basel Institute on Governance, commissioned by the Stiftung Finanzplatz Schweiz, Edward Elgar Publishers Cheltenham (UK) and Northhampton (USA) 2004.

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> Download short study

Abstract: All the major financial centres have experienced a rise in anti-money laundering rules and regulations. Initially, anti-money laundering laws were used as a weapon in the war on drugs, whilst more recently they have been deployed in the ongoing fight against terrorism. These developments, the authors reveal, have had serious consequences for banks and other financial institutions – affecting not only profit margins but also the way in which business is conducted.

Topical and pertinent issues addressed in this book include questions such as, has all the recent legislative activity really put a stop to the problem? Are the international rules being implemented as carefully as they should? How level is the playing field in cross border banking?

The regimes and implementation of anti-money laundering laws and regulations of four major, cross border, financial centres are also examined in depth: Switzerland, Singapore, the UK, and the USA. Going beyond the purely descriptive, there are also comparative analyses of these countries against existing international standards – with illuminating results.

This new book is full of original insight and analysis and will be an invaluable resource for lawyers, both scholarly and practitioner based, with an interest in economic crime as well as policymakers and compliance officers within banks and other financial institutions.