Anti-corruption courts are an increasingly common feature of national anti-corruption reform strategies. By mid-2022 the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre at CMI counted 27 such courts across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Reasons for their creation include the resolution of backlogs but also concerns about the ability of ordinary courts to handle corruption cases impartially. While there are no definitive best practices for specialised anti-corruption courts, existing models and experience provide some guidance to reformers considering the creation of similar institutions. 

The webinar was hosted jointly by the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre (CMI) and the Global Judicial Integrity Network (UNODC) on Friday, 29 September 2023. Attendance was by invitation only and targeted the participants of U4’s ‘corruption in the justice sector online course’ and participants of the Global Judicial Integrity Network.

At the beginning of this webinar, Dr Sofie A. Schütte, U4 Senior Adviser, presented a short overview of the existing anti-corruption courts and key features of their design.

Presiding Justice of the Sandiganbayan in the Philippines, Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang,then shared first-hand experiences from the oldest anti-corruption court in the world. Judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) in Ukraine,Oleksiy Kravchuk, followed with a presentation on challenges and achievements in the establishment and continuance of operations of the HACC during an ongoing war. The webinar was moderated by Tatiana Veress, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer at the Secretariat of the Global Judicial Integrity Network, UNODC.