Hi Marco, tell us what is Transcrime and the Kleptotrace project?
Transcrime is a European research centre that specialises in analysing issues related to crime, security, and the prevention of illicit activities. It’s based in Italy and operates as a joint research centre involving the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and other academic institutions. It combines expertise to address various aspects of crime and its prevention.
Transcrime is responsible for the Kleptotrace project, which aims to strengthen EU asset recovery and sanction tracing against transnational high-level corruption. It’s a collaboration of organisations that cover 8 EU countries including research centres, LEAs, anti-corruption agencies, FIUs, journalists and, of course, the business registers, who are represented by EBRA.
What’s the relationship between EBRA and Transcrime?
Our relationship actually goes back quite a few years. Originally, Transcrime was a partner on the EBOCS project, an EBRA-led project that simplified access to Business Registry data for financial analysis and investigation purposes. More recently, Transcrime approached EBRA again to collaborate on Kleptotrace for our expertise on the operation of business registries.
These projects are really important to EBRA and are a key part of our wider strategy. It allows us to use the unique expertise from our business registry community and positively contribute to projects that impact the whole of Europe.
Why is Kleptotrace important?
Kleptotrace’s goal is to boost the investigation, tracing and recovery of the assets related to high-level corruption. A big task and one which it seems the whole world is facing. The only way to face corruption at this scale is to work together, which is why it’s so important that we work with Kleptotrace on initiatives like this.
The project itself aims to achieve its objectives through a combination of research, training and data-driven tools. Kleptotrace is developing a toolbox that will build on and improve existing tools by connecting new asset registers and data and embedding innovative AI-based risk assessment functions.
What is EBRA’s involvement in Kleptotrace?
EBRA has been an Associate Partner in the Kleptotrace consortium since 2023. We were invited to the table to provide expertise and insight on the tools that are being developed for the project. EBRA will review their studies and audit their ideas from the perspective of the registries, and users of the registers. It is a critical role that ensures that the tools being developed can be practically used in the real world.
What’s coming up in the future?
In 2025, EBRA has been asked to partner in another Transcrime project called DATACROS III. DATACROS III is a research project co-funded by the European Union to develop an ethical AI-driven toolbox to support cross-border financial investigations on organised crime networks. As with Kleptotrace, EBRA will be providing expert insight on European business registries and feedback on the development of tools to support the fight against crime and money-laundering. It’s something we fully believe in and look forward to working on together. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to these vital discussions to build cross-border cooperation and join the fight against corruption.
