Day: November 6, 2021

On 3 November, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism says that the Pandora papers has shown that, no longer content with Miami condos and London townhouses, investors are pouring money into properties in all corners of the world, fuelling inequality and driving up prices.  It provides case studies showing that the Pandora Papers expose billions of dollars of property purchases by celebrities, politicians, oligarchs and other rich people through offshore shell companies, an avenue that supplies secrecy and tax savings.  As these case studies show, investors are not only putting money into luxury real estate, a traditional store of wealth, but also properties less associated with offshore purchases, from dairy farms in Tasmania to rental homes in American suburbs.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/secret-real-estate-purchases-are-a-driving-force-behind-the-offshore-economy/

https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/the-land-lords/

 

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On 2 November, the Basel Institute on Governance reported on a 2-year research project, part of the UK Aid-funded Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE), builds on our previous extensive research project on informal governance across 7 countries.  It says that evidence from this project highlighted that corruption is usually not the result of individual “rotten apples” acting in isolation to abuse their entrusted power for private gain. Rather, corrupt behaviour takes place according to unwritten rules and through informal social networks that connect the public and private sectors.  It is becoming increasingly clear that anti-corruption practitioners need to pay more attention to networks, not only individuals.

https://baselgovernance.org/blog/bribery-isnt-only-exchange-money-what-new-research-tells-us-about-how-informal-networks-enable

 

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On 3 November, the Basel Institute on Governance reported that, in the first such case in the Americas, Peru has issued a judgement ordering the non-conviction based confiscation of over $1.5 million in assets frozen in Mexico.  The Extinción de dominio non-conviction based forfeiture (NCBF) law allows assets of illicit origin to be confiscated in a judicial procedure, even if a criminal conviction is not possible.  It involves money stolen by former Army General Victor Manuel Malca Villanueva during the corrupt government of Alberto Fujimori from 1990–2000.

https://baselgovernance.org/news/peru-orders-confiscation-usd-15-million-stashed-mexico-corrupt-army-general

INTERVIEW OF PERUVIAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR: APPLYING PERU’S NON-CONVICTION BASED FORFEITURE LAW IN INTERNATIONAL CASES

On 3 November, the Basel Institute on Governance published an interview with Dr Hamilton Castro Trigoso, Provincial Prosecutor of the First Provisional Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for Extinción de dominio in Lima, on his experiences in investigating and enforcing asset confiscation judgements abroad.

https://baselgovernance.org/blog/interview-applying-perus-non-conviction-based-forfeiture-law-international-cases

 

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On 5 November, Tageschau reported that for 3 years, experts have been investigating weapons used in eastern Ukraine. They found engines from German production in Russian drones.  Research found components such as cameras and engines that often come from other countries, including Germany.  Discovery of drones in Poland and Lithuania could mean that Russian drones with German-made engines were used for spy flights in the EU.  It is also said that German companies were involved in the delivery of a GPS module from a Swiss company to Russia. It comments on the lack of export regulation and verification of end-users.  It also notes that, in the war in eastern Ukraine, the problem does not arise only for the Russian military drones. Turkish-made drones are using foreign components.

https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/russland-dronen-bauteile-deutschland-101.html

 

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On 5 November, a study published by the EU Parliament Research Service aims at gaining deeper insights into the legal aspects of illegal logging and related trade in illegally harvested timber and timber products.  It analyses the legal requirements and their implications for various actors in the EU and in third countries, examines the disparities in enforcement and penalties regimes in Member States and analyses their role in trade diversion, explores the possibility for strengthening the timber regime by broadening its scope and tackling underlying issues such as corruption and human rights violations, and assesses the external dimension, specifically focusing on the Voluntary Partnership Agreements with major producers’ countries.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2021/700009/IPOL_STU(2021)700009_EN.pdf

 

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On 5 November, Insight Crime reported that amendments to the penal code, criminal procedure code and money laundering law officially took effect on 1 November.  This package of reforms has been met with strong international concerns, including from the UN, and warnings that it would severely weaken Honduras’ fight against corruption. 

https://insightcrime.org/news/controversial-legal-reforms-in-honduras-continue-countrys-anti-corruption-legacy/

 

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