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?[…]
It was 2011 when Hussein Salem fled Egypt to Spain. He had been accused by the new, transitional authorities of having profited through his connections with the regime of Hosni Mubarak to the tune of several billion dollars in corrupt assets. Hussein Salem was a business tycoon, known as the ‘Father of Sharm El Sheikh’ Read more about The deal of the century[…]
Many people are discussing passionately what the Trump era will look like. We should ask ourselves: what will happen to US policies on recovering stolen assets? Will the US administration continue in its anti-corruption efforts worldwide? Although we should wait to see what happens, the premises are far from promising. Many have criticised the conflicts Read more about Making asset recovery great again[…]
Over the last 20 years, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his family and close circle of advisers allegedly enriched themselves through partnerships in powerful Egyptian companies, profiting from their political power and illicit enrichment from public money, according to numerous reports. Evidence shows that their wealth—obtained from illegal activities—was deposited or invested not just in Read more about 6 years later, where are Mubarak´s billions?[…]
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[…]
Brexit means Brexit: but what does the UK’s change at the top mean for success in fighting stolen assets? The UK is in the middle of conference season, with each of the UK’s main political parties meeting to discuss and outline their priorities for the coming year ahead. None was probably more watched this year Read more about Brexit means Brexit: but what about stolen assets?[…]
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[…]