Asset Recovery Support Project

Project completed

Systemic corruption, including the illegal appropriation of public assets by political-business elites has afflicted Ukraine for over two decades. Given the impetus for reforms following the Maidan revolution in 2014, as well as the large quantities of Ukrainian assets frozen in Swiss banks, Switzerland sees an opportunity to facilitate the return of public assets to Ukraine. This project provides technical assistance to strengthen Ukrainian authorities’ capacities in asset recovery. 

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Ukraine
Governance
nothemedefined
Legal and judicial development
Anti-corruption organisations
01.12.2018 - 30.09.2023
CHF  930’000
Background The recovery of stolen assets has an important role to play in the fight against corruption; it not only strengthens the rule of law and acts as a deterrent to further corruption, but also restitutes precious resources for public services. Despite weak judicial institutions and political interference in high-level corruption cases, targeted technical assistance in key agencies will nonetheless help equip to build stronger cases and cooperate more effectively with foreign jurisdictions in which these assets are held, thus creating the necessary conditions for the recovery of these funds.
Objectives Enhanced capacity of Ukraine law enforcement agencies in tackling corruption and recovering stolen assets leads to more effective enforcement of respective laws in Ukraine which in turn starts acting as a disincentive to financial crime.
Target groups

Staff and management of the

Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and

National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine

Medium-term outcomes

Objective 1: Ukrainian authorities have increased capacity and demonstrate the application of suitable tools and techniques to investigate and prosecute financial crime

Objective 2: Ukrainian authorities actively cooperate and coordinate with foreign jurisdictions in cross-border asset recovery cases supported by ICAR

Results

Expected results:   ICAR provides technical assistance to the PGO and NABU, primarily through on-the-job coaching on an agreed list of priority cases, structured trainings addressing capacity gaps of the respective organizations and support in international cooperation with foreign jurisdictions.


Results from previous phases:   In two previous phases, the International Center for Asset Reovery (ICAR) in Basel has provided case advice and trainings to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) and has also been able to earn their trust in a highly political context. ICAR has also rapidly built its collaboration with the newly-established National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), and has started providing targeted trainings to their staff. High-level corruption cases are complex and take time; thus no assets have yet been restituted, but notable progress has been made on several supported cases.


Directorate/federal office responsible SDC
Credit area Swiss cooperation with Eastern Europe
Project partners Contract partner
International or foreign NGO
Swiss Academic and Research Institution
  • Other Swiss academic and research institutions


Other partners
International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR)
Coordination with other projects and actors This project complements Switzerland’s core contribution to ICAR, as well as political and financial support to anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine by the EU, US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, and other western countries.
Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF    930’000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF    698’860
Project phases

Phase 1 01.12.2018 - 30.09.2023   (Completed)