Supporting national anti-corruption efforts
Lasting accountability starts at home. Alongside the campaign for an International Anti-Corruption Court, III supports the national institutions, reformers, and advocates working to hold the powerful to account in their own countries.
How we support national efforts
Champion what works
We spotlight national institutions and reforms that are holding powerful people to account, so others can learn from them and build on them.
02Connect
We link national institutions, prosecutors, and advocates with experts and the international mechanisms that make cross-border cases possible.
03Advocate for reform
We encourage governments to act now on national reforms, guided by the priorities of our coalition partners in each country.
04Build the backstop
We are building an international court that would assist national authorities first, and step in only when they are unable or unwilling to act.
Learning from national success
Around the world, reformers are proving that grand corruption can be confronted at home. III highlights these models, shares what makes them work, and helps connect the people behind them with peers facing similar challenges.
Building institutions amid war
III advised and supported the creation of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), and High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), which continue to build successful track records amid the war. III also champions Prozorro, Ukraine’s best-in-class digital procurement system, which provides much-needed transparency.
Holding a powerful oligarch to account
Since the election of democratic reformer President Maia Sandu, Moldova has built successful anti-corruption cases, including against its most significant oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc. Securing his extradition in 2025, his conviction and 19-year prison sentence in 2026, and court orders to seize his assets shows what a small state with limited resources can achieve when it has the political will to prioritize enforcement. III has worked with the Sandu administration on the IACC proposal and advised it on national anti-corruption efforts.
A student movement against corruption
III advises members of the student movement that emerged in response to widespread allegations of public corruption. The grassroots Student List won a landslide in Serbia’s 2026 parliamentary election, ousting the country’s authoritarian leader, Aleksandar Vučić.
Accountability after 1MDB
The multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund toppled entrenched Malaysian leaders. After many years, Malaysia’s courts upheld the conviction of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, and the government worked with international partners to recover significant stolen assets. But reform has not been a straight line, and building lasting anti-corruption capacity has challenged successive governments. III provides policy recommendations directly to prime ministers with an interest in fighting corruption.
Moving beyond state capture
A major hub of III’s activity, South Africa has emerged from its state capture era. III works with local partners to keep pushing for progress at the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (NPA/IDAC), the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), and the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
Connecting a small state to global partners
Small states face particular challenges in tackling the transnational dimensions of corruption. III advises Tonga’s relatively new Anti-Corruption Commission as it builds the relationships with international partners it needs to succeed.
A trusted partner across borders
The campaign for the IACC has brought together jurists, prosecutors, policymakers, practitioners, and activists from every region, including many who rarely work together. That network is a resource in its own right.
When a national institution or partner organization needs expertise, contacts, or a route to international cooperation, III can make the introductions, from peers who have faced similar challenges to the international mechanisms that support cross-border investigations.
Action that cannot wait for the Court
Establishing the IACC will take time. In our conversations with governments, we also press for steps they can take now, guided by what our coalition partners on the ground see as the priorities in their own countries.
From freezing stolen assets to returning them
Canada could once only freeze assets held under sanctions, leaving the money in the accounts of those accused. If a freezing order was lifted, the money could vanish. III contributed to legislation, now law, that allows the government to ask a court to seize frozen assets and repurpose them for the benefit of victims.
2022 amendments to the Special Economic Measures Act and the Sergei Magnitsky LawClosing loopholes in the Overseas Territories
The UK has the power to close the anti-money-laundering loopholes in the British Overseas Territories that allow stolen wealth to be hidden. III continues to urge the UK to act, a change that could have a significant impact on the global flow of illicit funds.
Ongoing advocacyA court of last resort, and of first assistance
The IACC is designed to strengthen national justice, not bypass it. National prosecutors often lack the contacts and tools to follow money across borders. The Court would help them do it.
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National authorities ask for help
Prosecutors pursuing a grand corruption case can turn to the Court for support with a transnational investigation.
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The Court helps follow the money
It helps trace and identify assets, and secure cooperation from its member states.
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Justice at home where possible
Where national courts can try the case, it stays at home. Where they are unable or unwilling, it can be referred to the IACC.
Working against corruption in your country?
Whether you lead a national institution, a reform effort, or a civil society organization, we would welcome a conversation about how we can help.