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.
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[…]
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[…]
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?[…]
This is a translation of the blog article „Ein effektiver Kampf gegen Geldwäsche in Deutschland – genauso wichtig wie Entwicklungshilfe?!“ published on the blog of the Netzwerk Steuergerechtigkeit (Tax Justice Network) on 26 June 2019. The original article can be found here: https://www.blog-steuergerechtigkeit.de/2019/06/ein-effektiver-kampf-gegen-geldwaesche-in-deutschland-genauso-wichtig-wie-entwicklungshilfe/ By Christoph Trautvetter Germany reformed its law regulating the confiscation of Read more about An effective fight against money laundering in Germany – as important as development aid?[…]
“Civil society can contribute to asset recovery and more transparent processes” In 2019, CiFAR in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation researched global challenges in asset recovery and the role civil society plays to fight cross-border corruption. Here is an interview with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation with the authors, Agatino and Jackson from CIFAR, presenting Read more about CiFAR’s interview with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation[…]
This blog is part of a series monitoring the utilisation of Nigeria’s recovered assets and was prepared by Oluwatosin Fatoyinbo. Read Oluwatosin’s previous articles on Nigeria here. In our previous blogs, we outlined some of the issues of the Nigerian Cash Transfer Programme, planned to be funded with the $322 million of the Abacha loot Read more about The Nigeria “Cash Transfer Programme” takes off among challenges[…]
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?[…]
Photo: Accent TV In our last post on Moldova, we talked about how in 2014 Moldovan kleptocrats allegedly stole over a billion dollars through a sophisticated bank fraud scheme. Things do not seem to be going in the right direction since then: the mastermind behind the fraud – Read more about Recovering the Moldovan billion[…]
Moldova – Europe’s tiny, little known and poorest country – has arguably become a giant of corruption and money laundering in the past ten years. Research indicates that the country landed in the hands of powerful kleptocrats – above all, Vladimir Plahotniuc – who were able to take control of most public institutions, making the Read more about Europe’s forgotten corruption heaven: Moldova[…]