In recent days, allegations have emerged of sexual harassment related to an external trainer used by CiFAR in one of our programmes in 2017-2018. We take these allegations very seriously and are committed to ensuring that we fully give effect to our zero tolerance policy on harassment and discrimination. In light of and as a Read more about Statement on safeguarding[…]
The global health pandemic may, on its face, have little to do with cross-border corruption and asset recovery. Look a little beneath the surface though and it becomes clear that the challenges posed by the pandemic have far reaching implications for the prevention of cross-border corruption and the recovery of stolen assets. Pandemic-related challenges The Read more about COVID-19 and asset recovery: an overview[…]
With the help of their corrupt networks, kleptocrats steal billions from their citizens every year. One of the tools the European Union has at its disposal to fight kleptocrats are sanctions that freeze their assets. On 6th of March, at a Brussels event co-organised by our partners at Transparency International EU, CiFAR launched EU Sanctions Watch – Read more about What are the EU misappropriation sanctions and what are we doing about them?[…]
During the protests in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011, which led to the removal of longtime dictators Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, the Council of the European Union did something remarkable and, at the time, relatively unprecedented – it issued a regulation to its member states which pre-emptively froze the assets held Read more about What are the EU sanctions and why are they important?[…]
Zine el Abidine Ben Ali fled Tunisia in January 2011 following popular protests which ended his 23-year rule at the start of what became known as the Arab Spring. It is no secret how the ruler and his family enriched themselves during that period. The World Bank estimates the wealth of the Ben Ali family Read more about The Tunisian Job: How to recover 13 billion dollars stolen by the Ben Ali family[…]
The asset recovery process is cumbersome, long and expensive. In fact, the average asset recovery process lasts over six years. However, there are cases that last much longer. Successful cross-border asset tracing and recovery requires the following steps: – Tracing and identifying the assets. It is necessary not just to locate the assets and funds Read more about Is there a happy ending when recovering assets?[…]
In the first part of this blog series we discussed how Germany is a country at high risk of money laundering due to the financial system’s secrecy. This has allowed dictators and other officials to hide their corrupt wealth in its banks. But what about the efforts that Germany has taken to help countries recover Read more about Asset recovery: Germany 101[…]
This article in Catalan was published during our “Keep the Assets Frozen” campaign in early 2016, pushing the European Council to extend sanctions that froze assets deposited across the EU by Ben Ali and Mubarak. One of our members, Laila describes the challenges of asset recovery and how CiFAR contributes to the successful return of Read more about “L’Accent” speaks about CiFAR´s campaign work[…]
Over the past few years, Germany has been praised for its efforts in leading on transparency and anti-corruption in the global agenda and for supporting countries in transition to recover stolen assets. But at the same time, the German finance ministry estimates that €100 billon is laundered through Germany each year. What’s the truth? In Read more about Is Germany a tax haven? Part I[…]