Return of assets – a process for the return of funds received using illegal, including corrupt, mechanisms; recognized as a fundamental principle of the UN Convention against Corruption. In Kyrgyzstan, the process of returning stolen funds is at a standstill. Only in 2019, in the entire history of the country, 4.6 million dollars were returned once. In a country from which hundreds of millions of dollars were withdrawn, this seems like a drop in the ocean. Karen Greenaway and Sheri Dunlop, some of the world’s top experts in international corruption and financial crime, read the Stolen Asset Recovery module for students in the Academic Anti-Corruption Certified Program. Karen has 22 years of experience with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). During her time at the FBI, she investigated money laundering, complex financial crimes, violent crimes, and international corruption. She has also supervised, guided and mentored numerous teams of investigators, analysts and forensic accountants, achieving successful results in complex criminal investigations both locally and internationally with a number of high-profile achievements. Her colleague Sheri Dunlop served 18 years in the United States Secret Service (USSS). Then 8 years at the US Department of the Treasury, Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN), retiring as Director/Special Agent in charge of the Office of Special Investigations. The program is implemented in cooperation with the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic with the financial support of the Soros Foundation – Kyrgyzstan.
