Senior Asset Recovery Specialist, Ukraine

Job Description

Job title: Senior Asset Recovery Specialist, Ukraine

Place of work: Kyiv, Ukraine

Start date: April 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter

Employment rate: 50-100%

Reporting: Head of Programmes, ICAR

The International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) of the Basel Institute on Governance works with countries around the world to strengthen their capacities to recover stolen assets. Particular emphasis is placed on hands-on mentoring to assist financial investigations, tracing and freezing of assets and developing suitable strategies for prosecution and the confiscation of assets. ICAR also supports legislative and institutional reform processes, develops and delivers tailor-made training, and works with other international organisations to advance innovation and global policy dialogue on asset recovery.

ICAR has been supporting law enforcement institutions in Ukraine since 2014 in efforts to build capacity to investigate and prosecute financial crimes and recover stolen assets. Since 2019, this work has been funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) through the “Asset Recovery and Public Integrity in Ukraine” programme. Current beneficiaries of this programme of work include the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

To this end, ICAR provides hands-on coaching to both agencies on major asset recovery cases, including in relation to international cooperation. This on-the-job mentoring is supplemented by tailored training initiatives ranging from intensive workshops to eLearning courses. Drawing on its on-the-ground experience in Ukraine and around the world, ICAR is also well placed to advise on related legislative and institutional reform.

To date, ICAR has delivered technical assistance through regular monthly interventions by headquarters-based experts. To strengthen the support provided under the programme, ICAR is seeking to appoint an additional team member based in Kyiv.

• Providing in-country liaison to beneficiary agencies in Ukraine;
• Providing case specific advice to beneficiary agencies on corruption / financial crime cases and facilitate international co-operation, through formal and informal means;
• Liaise with and support ICAR HQ-based experts in providing case-specific advice to beneficiaries;
• Supporting the organisation and delivery of ICAR training in Kyiv, and identifying other suitable partners for additional capacity building partnerships in Ukraine;
• Develop and provide ad hoc training as required by beneficiary agencies to supplement case based mentoring and training provided by ICAR’s training team;
• Contributing to the provision of assistance with regard to legislative developments or institutional reform processes as may be requested by the programme beneficiaries, and participating in related policy dialogue with relevant stakeholders;
• Ensuring programme implementation remains focussed on the strategic objectives and aligned with work plans;
• Outreach to and, if applicable, developing working relations with other potential beneficiaries of the programme;
• Liaising with other relevant technical assistance programmes in Ukraine and with other relevant development partners and international organisations to ensure complementarity of technical assistance programmes; participating in the Ukrainian development partner coordination structure;
• Continuously monitoring and reporting on political developments in Ukraine, and in particular developments in law enforcement and anti-corruption reform; and
• Other tasks related to the provision of technical assistance in the area of anti-corruption and asset recovery in Ukraine and to the management of the SDC-funded programme of work as may be requested by the Head of Programmes ICAR or the HQ-based Ukraine team.

In the execution of these tasks, the post holder will work under the supervision of the Head of Programmes ICAR and shall be responsible for the close co-ordination and communication with the programme donor in Kyiv.

• Advanced university degree in (criminal) law;
• At least 10 years of practical working experience in the area of combating corruption, related financial crimes and asset recovery as prosecutor or senior financial investigator, of which at least 8 years in the context of complex, multi-jurisdictional investigations and/or prosecutions;
• Experience in advising on legislative and institutional reform in the field of financial and economic crime; first-hand experience in legislative drafting is a definite asset;
• Good understanding of and interest in international academic and policy debate concerning tackling corruption and asset recovery;
• Ability to work independently and mostly alone outside a regular office environment;
• Ability to build working relationships with senior level government employees;
• Ability and experience to build working relationships with senior-level government employees;
• Good understanding of the political economy of and development assistance in Ukraine;
• Experience with applying relevant IT tools;
• Fluency (native speaker level) in Ukrainian or Russian and high-level skills in English.

The salary will be commensurate to experience and responsibility. Additional allowances for field staff may apply, including health allowance, accommodation allowance and one home leave flight per 12-month period. The position is entitled to 25 days of paid leave per 12-month period and 5 days of paid home leave per 12-month period. Spouse allowance is not applicable for this position.

Application

Please email your full application file, including a motivational letter in English and your detailed CV (merged into a single PDF file) by 28^th February 2021 to application@baselgovernance.org. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

About the Organization

The International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) of the Basel Institute on Governance works with countries around the world to strengthen their capacities to recover stolen assets. Particular emphasis is placed on hands-on mentoring to assist financial investigations, tracing and freezing of assets and developing suitable strategies for prosecution and the confiscation of assets. ICAR also supports legislative and institutional reform processes, develops and delivers tailor-made training, and works with other international organisations to advance innovation and global policy dialogue on asset recovery.

ICAR has been supporting law enforcement institutions in Ukraine since 2014 in efforts to build capacity to investigate and prosecute financial crimes and recover stolen assets. Since 2019, this work has been funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) through the “Asset Recovery and Public Integrity in Ukraine” programme. Current beneficiaries of this programme of work include the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

To this end, ICAR provides hands-on coaching to both agencies on major asset recovery cases, including in relation to international cooperation. This on-the-job mentoring is supplemented by tailored training initiatives ranging from intensive workshops to eLearning courses. Drawing on its on-the-ground experience in Ukraine and around the world, ICAR is also well placed to advise on related legislative and institutional reform.

To date, ICAR has delivered technical assistance through regular monthly interventions by headquarters-based experts. To strengthen the support provided under the programme, ICAR is seeking to appoint an additional team member based in Kyiv.