Hunting the stolen billions: Reaching out and engaging new audiences in the fight against stolen assets

Between the 8^th and 11^th of December in Berlin CiFAR and Mafia? Nein Danke! put together the exhibition “Hunting the Stolen Billions” and held a series of talks on public asset theft, organised crime, money laundering, tax havens and what Germany and the international community can do.

We did this to try to engage new audiences in the topics we are passionate about. Too often these topics are seen as technical, complex and often best left to specialists. Neither of our organisations thinks that this should be the case. The topics involve huge policy implications including budget allocation, criminal law and human rights issues, that deserve public attention. Over US $1 trillion in illegally acquired money flows across borders every year and, one way or other, almost every country in the world is involved, either as the source of the money, a step on the path of hiding the money, or as the destination for this money. The laws and policies put in place by our politicians therefore have a direct effect on the flow of this money and people should be able to understand the actions (or inaction) their leaders are taking and raise informed voices for change.

30 Placards, 9 Photos 12 videos formed our exhibition with the aim to explain in a clear and straightforward manner the means used to hide illegally acquired wealth. We also wanted to show some examples of what happens if governments don’t act, and to make suggestions as to what politicians and people can do to change the current system.

During the talks on 9^th and 10^th December drew and expanded on this; experts from our organisations, Tax Justice Network and Transparency International discussed money laundering, tax havens and the international response in more detail and the audience was encouraged to ask questions and debate how change could come on these topics.

By the end of the four days, over 110 people had visited the exhibition, with many of those coming back or staying for the talks. A large number of those were people unknown to both CiFAR and Mafia? Nein Danke! before.

For us, that is what it was all about – reaching new people, informing them about transnational corruption and organised crime and sowing the seeds for future, citizen-led engagement and action

Download our exhibition portfolio.

For us, that is what it was all about – reaching new people, informing them about transnational corruption and organised crime and sowing the seeds for future, citizen-led engagement and action against the systems, laws and policies being used by public officials and criminals across the world to hide wealth otherwise available for the public good.

If you want to know more about the exhibition or how you can get involved in the fight against transnational corruption, please get in touch with us.

We would like to thank all participants, the speakers and our great partners at Mafia? Nein Danke! for the success of this event.

The event was made possible through the support of Engagement Global gGmbH on behalf of the Ministry of Development Cooperation (BMZ).