Recovering Africa’s Stolen Assets: from Jersey to Kenya

An interesting event has come to our attention that we’d like to share, taking place at Chatham House in London. Full event details here.

Recovering Africa’s Stolen Assets: Lessons from the Windward Trading Case

A report by the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery programme found that, while nearly $1.4 billion in suspected corrupt assets were frozen in OECD countries between 2010 and 2012, less than $150 million was returned. Recovering stolen assets is of particular importance for sub-Saharan African countries, given the extent of the looting of public funds carried out by corrupt leaders and officials.

Prosecuting international corruption and recovering stolen assets has proved difficult and time-consuming. Both states from which assets have been stolen, and those where these assets are laundered or stored, have struggled to produce results.

The recently confirmed confiscation and subsequently agreed upon return of stolen assets from Jersey to Kenya – in the context of the investigation of Windward Trading Limited – is  therefore a significant achievement. It may also serve as an example of the kind of innovative legal approach other states, practitioners and the international community can explore to achieve meaningful progress in the recovery of stolen assets.

This event, co-hosted by Chatham House and the Basel Institute on Governance, will invite speakers from Kenya and Jersey to examine how lessons from the Windward case might be applied in other sub-Saharan African countries and in international corruption cases.

Participants include:

Susie Kitchens, Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, Kenya
Robert MacRae QC, Attorney General of Jersey
Howard Sharp QC, Former Solicitor General of Jersey
Halekhe Dida Waqo, CEO of Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission
Chair: Gretta Fenner, Managing Director, Basel Institute on Governance