ICAR Asset Recovery Experts Workshop in Switzerland, May 2007

On 15 and 16 May 2007, the International Centre for Asset Recovery of the Basel Institute on Governance (ICAR), in cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) hosted a workshop in Basel, Switzerland, on Implementing the Asset Recovery Provisions of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). It was attended by 25 specialists in the area of asset recovery and 30 observers from around the world.

Following short videos of the workshop are available:

• Eva Joly on the importance of independence of judges and the issue of statute of limitation
• Discussion between Jack Smith and Beat Frey on the division of competence between prosecutors and magistrates on the example of Italy
• Jean Bernard Schmid on the importance of due process and fair trail
• Jean Bernard Schmid on the notion of victims, the Kazakhstan case and the repatriation of monies to the corrupt governments
• Jean Bernard Schmid on the repatriation of assets under Swiss law and the importance of UNCAC
• Remarks by Prof. Mark Pieth and Daniel Claman on the requirements of Art. 57 UNCAC
• Daniel Claman on UNCAC
• Timothy Daniel on the issue of whether the Nigerian state could claim a sovereign immunity

• Comments by Willie Hofmeyr, Jean-Bernard Schmid and Daniel Claman on a different approach in common and civil law systems to the issue of subjecting the property and value of a corrupt official

For further information see also the Summary of Recommendations that contains the primary suggestions and recommendations raised by participants over the two day period of the workshop and was prepared by the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) of the Basel Institute on Governance.