This paper examines how illicit financial flows (IFFs) in the Western Balkans and Black Sea regions have surged in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Using trade and econometric analysis, it estimates that IFFs doubled to USD 31 billion…

In 2022, Kenya underwent a Mutual Evaluation Review. The review report, along with the National Risk Assessment (NRA), identified significant vulnerabilities across several sectors, ultimately resulting in Kenya’s FATF grey-listing in 2024. The real estate sector was specifically flagged as…

Real estate money laundering (REML) represents a critical vulnerability in the global financial system, yet research and policy developments remain scarce in the Global South despite these regions’ countries increasingly becoming “countries of asset location.” While the Financial Action Task…

The emergence and survival of ‘Londongrad’, despite the UK anti-money laundering regime, is an intellectual and policy conundrum. We analyse an original dataset of £2 billion of domestic real estate in the United Kingdom owned by elites from post-Soviet states…

In the early 2000s, Tanzania struggled to protect the land rights of the 75% of its citizens who lived in rural areas. Rapid population growth and rising investment in commercial agriculture had increased land scarcity and created the potential for…

In 1999, eight years after emerging from decades of Soviet domination, Kyrgyzstan began an ambitious effort to officially recognize property ownership throughout the country and lay the groundwork for a vibrant real estate market. During five and a half decades…