One could argue that former Ukrainian president Yanukovych is a model case for major public asset theft, how to profit from the secrecy of the global financial system and on the failures and hurdles in recovering those assets. Money, money, money, money While credible estimates are as always difficult, if not impossible to make, it Read more about A model case of public asset theft?[…]
The ongoing case of asset recovery and Uzbekistan Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the former President of Uzbekistan and once the international face of her father’s regime, was put under house arrest in 2014 and is now the subject of court cases from the US to the Netherlands and Switzerland over the alleged US $1 Read more about Karimova, corruption and communications[…]
Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, better known as Teodorin, is the son of the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, a country with vast oil revenues and endemic poverty. 70% of Equatorial Guinea’s citizens live on just $1 a day Teodorin’s father, President Obiang, not only installed his eldest son as minister of forestry; he also granted him Read more about The spoiled kid who loots Equatorial Guinea[…]
Civil society’s work to recover stolen assets is dominated by technical topics—from mutual legal assistance and secrecy jurisdictions, to beneficial ownership. Due to the complex nature of these technicalities, organisations that lead asset recovery efforts have mostly failed to engage the public and effectively transform angry citizens into an engaged citizenry. Civil society has an Read more about What Civil Society Can Do To Recover Assets[…]
“A robust international framework for quick restitution of stolen assets is long overdue” Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria at the OECD, 30 March 2017. Last week we were at the OECD for the 2017 Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum, an event billed as a follow-on to the 2016 London Anti-Corruption Conference and bringing together Read more about A new framework for asset recovery?[…]
After Hosni Mubarak was released from prison in March 2016 and the EU extended for another year the freeze of his and his family’s assets, what will happen to his billions? CiFAR had a chat with the French news outlet BFM Business. You can read the interview in French at this link. Read more about The future of Mubarak’s assets[…]
Masses of people flooded the streets to protest the endemic corruption of their governments in Cairo, Tunis and many other Arab cities. Following these uprisings six years ago, sanctions were imposed on public officials for misappropriating public funds. Here’s a look at recent European Union (EU) actions, such as asset freezes and visa restrictions. Egypt Read more about Beyond Egypt: other people worth sanctioning in MENA[…]
As one of the last signatories in Europe to the UN Convention Against Corruption and sitting in 8th place on the 2015 Financial Secrecy Index, the German government has a chequered commitment to anti-corruption. In 2017 Germany has a chance to make a change and become a leader in the anti-corruption field as it passes Read more about Germany, a reluctant commitment to anti-corruption?[…]
It was the anger against the widespread corruption of Mubarak’s regime that brought millions of Egyptians on the streets in early 2011. In the aftermath of the revolution, Egyptians put a lot of hopes that they would get back the billions of Euros stolen by Mubarak and his family to invest them in building a new Read more about Egypt’s (modest) efforts to bring back Mubarak’s billions[…]
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?[…]