Released today, the 10th annual edition of the Basel AML Index raises grave questions about whether jurisdictions are serious about tackling their money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks, and what is holding them back.

The Basel AML Index is an independent annual ranking that assesses ML/TF threats around the world and the capacity of jurisdictions’ anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures to address their specific risks.

How can law enforcement agencies, financial intelligence units and private financial institutions such as banks work better together to identify, freeze and confiscate criminal assets?

What opportunities and challenges are there for public-private collaboration for asset recovery, and what can we learn from emerging models such as financial information-sharing partnerships?

These questions were central to the 11th Lausanne Seminar held on 2–3 September 2021, a forum for sharing knowledge, best practices and hands-on experience involving the recovery of illicit assets.

The ability to forge personal relationships and network with counterparts from other professions and agencies was somewhat lost during the pandemic restrictions. But the latest International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) training programme delivered in Malawi was a strong reminder of just how important this personal networking is in the fight against corruption.

This case study examines a 2021 unexplained wealth (illicit enrichment) case in Kenya involving a former Chief Accountant at the Treasury, Patrick Ochieno Abachi.

The case is related to Kenya’s so-called Anglo Leasing scandal, in which 18 high-value government security contracts were allegedly awarded to fictitious companies in the early 2000s. It illustrates one set of circumstances in which civil unexplained wealth (or civil illicit enrichment) legislation can be an extremely useful tool to target assets stolen through corruption.

Published today, our Annual Report celebrates the achievements of our teams and partners around the world that we are most proud of in 2020. It also reveals some of the hurdles we were challenged to overcome together. There are many of both, and a lot more stories and highlights in between. 

This year's report offers deep dives into some of our key focus areas.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought issues of ethics and business integrity in the healthcare sector into the public spotlight. Citizens everywhere are demanding well-governed, transparent healthcare systems and industries – not only to address the health consequences of the pandemic but as a backbone of resilient and sustainable economic growth.

Much has been said about palm oil and its impact on the environment. Major international debates are taking place about the issue, and numerous studies have highlighted the governance weaknesses associated with large-scale plantations.

To gain a better insight into what the Indonesian public thinks about this issue and others relevant to corruption, governance and natural resources, the Basel Institute on Governance and Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI), the leading Indonesian pollster, jointly conducted polls and interviews during July 2021.

A new sector-wide integrity programme seeks to transform and harmonise standards of ethics and compliance across all Moscow City Transport organisations.

Alexandr Rusetskiy, a Deputy General Director in the Moscow Directorate of Transport Services, together with Ilsur Akhmetshin of the Compliance-Elements partnership, explain the motivation, approach and challenges in this effort to bring state-of-the-art anti-corruption practices to the sector and beyond.