Celestino Calabrese from the UK National Crime Agency discusses its work in tackling economic crime, including illicit financial flows

Celestino Calabrese is the UK National Crime Agency’s threat lead for Money Laundering, Bribery, Corruption, and financial sanctions.

He has eight years of experience in tackling economic crime in both intelligence and strategic leadership roles.

Celestino is also the NCA’s lead on a wide portfolio of priorities including but not limited to: Companies House Reform, the Registration of Overseas Entities Bill, and Tier One Investor Visa Reform.

His work has been a driving force behind recent legislative and policy shifts within His Majesty’s Government.

In this episode he discusses; why his Agency is interested in how illicit financial flows from grand corruption are measured; and why it's important for the Agency's work.

Background to the podcast

The Global Programme for Measuring Corruption ('GPMC') recently held a 'think-in' at their HQ in the International Anti-Corruption Academy, in Vienna, to examine one area that is particularly hard to measure – Illicit Financial Flows, or IFFs, and specifically the IFFs that arise from grand corruption.

The GPMC assembled a team of practitioners and academics to debate and discuss the topic over three days in Vienna.

And this podcast was recorded at the 'think-in'

If you enjoyed this conversation, and would like to listen to a round-up of the whole 'think-in' we have just the podcast for you.

https://measurement-matters.zencast.website/episodes/measuring-illicit-financial-flows-from-grand-corruption

In it the co-organisers Liz David Barrett and Ken Okamura - discuss why they chose the topic, what they learnt from the 'think-in' and how it will inform future work.

We also have a podcast with Matt Collin (mentioned in this podcast) discussing a working paper (he's co-authored) about the impact of the UK’s new laws on beneficial ownership transparency.

https://measurement-matters.zencast.website/episodes/the-end-of-londongrad-the-impact-of-beneficial-ownership-transparency-on-offshore-investment-in-uk-property

If you would like to read an overview of the whole 'think-in' here’s our key insights brief published afterwards.

If you want to find out more about the programme, visit this link:

https://www.iaca.int/measuring-corruption

And if you have specific questions please feel free to email the team: gpmc@iaca.int