What are countries doing to investigate and confiscate sanctioned assets belonging to Russian oligarchs?

Posted on 09/02/202409/02/2024 by Lucia Cizmaziova

Information and references referred to in this blog can be found in this Overview Country Table To answer this question, CiFAR has recently conducted research published in a report From Sanctions to Investigations. Legislation, policy and practice linking investigations into the origins of sanctioned assets and recommendations for governments to strengthen the investigation and confiscation Read more about <strong>What are countries doing to investigate and confiscate sanctioned assets belonging to Russian oligarchs?</strong>[…]

The Jersey Return: Public Participation and Transparency Lessons

Posted on 03/08/202303/08/2023 by Jackson Oldfield

The announcement of the Jersey return of GBP 3 million – the latest cross border return to Kenya – was welcomed with pomp and gladness by Kenyans in general, because these had been a long coming return! The signing and announcement of the Agreement for the recovery, transfer, repatriation, disposition and management of recovered asset Read more about The Jersey Return: Public Participation and Transparency Lessons[…]

FINANCIAL INVESTIGATIONS AS A FIRST STEP TO RECOVER SANCTIONED ASSETS

Posted on 13/07/202313/07/2023 by Lucia Cizmaziova

Is it possible to confiscate sanctioned assets and use them for public good? How to do this quickly and without compromising the rule of law? These are some of the questions that CiFAR has been trying to understand since the freezing of Tunisian, Egyptian and Ukrainian assets under the EU’s misappropriation sanctions. These questions became Read more about <strong>FINANCIAL INVESTIGATIONS AS A FIRST STEP TO RECOVER SANCTIONED ASSETS</strong>[…]

Asset recovery data availability – small steps forward

Posted on 12/05/202316/05/2023 by Lucia Cizmaziova

The United Nations World Data Forum which builds a pathway to better data for sustainable development, and which took place in Hangzhou at the end of April, offered a moment to reflect on data availability across the Sustainable Development Goals framework, including SDG 16.4. As we have written before, there is currently no indicator that Read more about Asset recovery data availability – small steps forward[…]

Returning assets indirectly through third-party entities

Posted on 16/03/202323/02/2024 by Lucia Cizmaziova

Read our new report – Indirect Asset Return Through Third-Party Entities Indirect return mechanisms describe the practice of returning recovered money across borders indirectly via third-party entities that stand between cooperating governments. These entities might be called in to aid in the negotiations, as well as in the process of the distribution of the returned Read more about Returning assets indirectly through third-party entities[…]

EU MISAPPROPRIATION SANCTIONS TEN YEARS ON – FACTSHEET 2021

Posted on 19/03/202126/03/2021 by Lucia Cizmaziova

BACKGROUND Following the revolutions in 2011 in Tunisia and Egypt and 2014 in Ukraine, the Council of the European Union imposed misappropriation sanctions on people suspected of corruption from the ousted regimes. These require that any assets relating to people on the list, including real estate and bank accounts, are frozen in all EU Member Read more about EU MISAPPROPRIATION SANCTIONS TEN YEARS ON – FACTSHEET 2021[…]

Can international anti-corruption sanctions help advance sustainable development?

Posted on 01/10/202001/10/2020 by Lucia Cizmaziova

On 3rd September 2020 CiFAR participated in the first Global Forum on Illicit Financial Flows and Sustainable Development, organised by the German and Norwegian governments. One of the workshops we organised focused on the potential of international targeted sanctions to fight corruption.

Hunting Saleh’s treasure – CiFAR’s interview with the Zenith magazine

Posted on 18/09/202018/09/2020 by Lucia Cizmaziova

The assets of Yemeni ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was murdered in 2017, are probably distributed among at least 20 countries. The repatriation of the illegally accumulated funds is proving to be particularly tricky. In early 2020, CiFAR published a report Yemen’s Stolen Assets: Past and Future, explaining both some of the challenges that led to Read more about Hunting Saleh’s treasure – CiFAR’s interview with the Zenith magazine[…]

Yemen’s Stolen Assets

Posted on 03/06/202004/06/2020 by Jackson Oldfield

In autumn 2019, CIFAR began looking once again into the issue of the assets alleged to have been stolen by the former President of Yemen – Ali Abdallah Saleh – and frozen under a 2014 UN Security Council Resolution. These assets were the subject of a former report by CiFAR, that attempted to learn whether Read more about Yemen’s Stolen Assets[…]

Africa’s asset recovery spring?

Posted on 06/12/201906/12/2019 by Agatino Camarda

African countries lose more than $70 billion a year in illicit financial flows, stemming from crime and corruption. Good news is, following the Nigeria example, more and more of them are stepping up their efforts in recovering stolen assets. Here are four examples we think are interesting to look at. Liberia Liberia’s former president Taylor Read more about Africa’s asset recovery spring?[…]