Anti-Corruption Programs at the Institute: Fall Course Wrap-up

From November 14th-18th, 2016 the CEELI Institute organized its sixth round of training on “Investigating and Prosecuting Official Corruption.” The interactive five-day program brought together an extraordinary faculty line-up consisting of some of the world’s most experienced anti-corruption prosecutors, forensic accountants, and practitioners including Andrew Levchuk, former DoJ officer and current counsel to Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas, LLP, Jagvinder Brar and Michael Peer, forensic accountants with KPMG, and John Griffith, Associate General Counsel in the Office of Global Compliance at Weatherford. Together they provided participants with a comprehensive framework for investigating and prosecuting official corruption.

The program was attended by 32 prosecutors, investigators, and judges from six countries – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine – as well as a number of observers including representatives from US embassies across Eastern Europe and the Balkan region. The program uses carefully designed, case-based interactive curricula reliant on practical case scenarios as learning tools, demanding participants to take an active role throughout the workshop. As one of the participants noted, “This was a great program. It allowed us to compare tools and methods against corruption in different countries and allowed to get practical skills for the investigation of such cases.”

Participants worked in small groups to develop their own investigation strategy, learning to use time-tested investigative tools along the way, and ultimately making a recommendation to the larger conference on whether this was a case they would pursue to prosecution or not. With each session, participants were presented with additional facts and legal obstacles to confront and overcome as the fact patterns became more complicated. The course is designed to develop and improve practical skills as the participants pursue the investigation, augmented by expert guidance and instruction. The case scenario is supported by relevant faculty presentations on key topics. Our highly experienced faculty provided mentoring to the small groups, as well as one-on-one mentoring throughout the program.