More than 770 public officials across Peru have this week started a virtual training course on "Transversal Management of Administrative and Functional Systems".

Following the financial trail is a daunting task, said Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo, Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), at the start of a scoping mission by the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR).

But, she continued, although asset recovery is complex and reliant on international cooperation, it is the most effective way to curb corruption.

“Prior to this training, we thought we knew it all,” said a participant of an ICAR Financial Investigations and Asset Recovery training workshop in Comoros on 24–28 February. “But we have now realised that there is a lot we can improve on.”

Another senior participant stated that he will call a meeting of all officers under his supervision to apply the new knowledge of money laundering offences and financial investigation processes immediately to the team’s work.

Law students at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa were surprised when a two-day course on corruption and money laundering by Professor Mark Pieth and Kathrin Betz turned out to involve acting out roleplays and working on a simulated money laundering case.

Role-playing a corruption case

Acting as prosecutors, defence lawyers and judges, the students first had to resolve a corruption case by applying the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).

An intensive Financial Investigations and Asset Recovery training programme by our International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) training team in Kosovo last week had a novel twist: the participants had the opportunity to discuss and explore ways to use the country’s new Law of Extended Powers on Confiscation of Assets.

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.