Devi Pillay
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devipillay.co.za
Devi Pillay
@devipillay.co.za
South African in London
Anti-corruption & state capture research @giace.bsky.social and @parinstitute.bsky.social
Fiber & textile arts
Pictures of my cat
Pinned
A cool thing I did a little work on: ZAM and the Network of African Investigative Journalists & Editors have launched The Kleptocracy Report, showcasing the best reporting by African journalists on kleptocracy & state capture. Subscribe & share to support their work:
kleptocracyreport.substack.com
Reposted by Devi Pillay
Crises like pandemics, cholera outbreaks & climate disasters don’t just strain health systems — they amplify corruption risks.

New #GIACE blog by Claudia Baez Camargo & @dinabalabanova.bsky.social explores how overlapping emergencies in Malawi opened space for corruption.

🔗 bit.ly/BaselGIACEBlog
Addressing Corruption in Crises Matters: Towards effective crisis-responses in the Malawian health system - Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence
bit.ly
November 6, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
New #GIACE research by @csdbuildbridges.bsky.social (Tihomira Kostova & Martin Vladimirov) exposes how illicit financial flows (IFFs) and sanctions-evasion networks have surged across the Western Balkans and Black Sea region, reshaping global integrity and governance.

🔗 Read: bit.ly/CSDPublicati...
Shadow Economies: The Rise of Illicit Networks and Alternative Markets in Sanctions Circumvention - Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence
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 es...
bit.ly
November 3, 2025 at 12:37 PM
My new working paper for GI ACE!
#Statecapture in South Africa wasn’t just politicians & the Guptas. Firms like McKinsey, Regiments & Trillian at Transnet & Eskom enabled inflated contracts & mismanagement.

#GIACE research by @devipillay.co.za shows how unchecked outsourcing weakens state capacity.

Read: bit.ly/consultants-...
September 24, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
Join us today as we kickoff our first #GIACESeminar with Dan Marks & @jenniferscotland.bsky.social from @rusi.bsky.social and reflections from Pablo Fernandez (EcoSecurities).

📖 Scoping Corruption in Voluntary Carbon Markets
🕰️ 12:30–1:30 PM (UK time)
🔗 bit.ly/GIACESeminar1
September 18, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
Join us on 18 September as we kickoff our first #GIACESeminar with Dan Marks & @jenniferscotland.bsky.social from @rusi.bsky.social, and reflections from Pablo Fernandez (EcoSecurities).

📖 Scoping Corruption in Voluntary Carbon Markets
🕰️ 12:30–1:30 PM (UK time)
🔗 bit.ly/GIACESeminar1
September 12, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
New #GIACE blog by @csc-barrington.bsky.social asks: are lawyers upholding justice - or enabling kleptocrats?

Recent research shows the long-standing “access to justice” defence is being challenged by ethicists, political scientists, and even lawyers themselves.

Read: bit.ly/RBEnablersblog
Are ‘professional enablers’ providing access to justice? - Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence
bit.ly
September 3, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
🚨 Launch Webinar | Hidden Trade Routes: Illicit Financial Flows and Sanctions Evasion in the Balkans & Black Sea

📅 15 Sept 2025 | 🕑 12:00 PM UK | 📍 Online (Zoom)
🔗 Register: bit.ly/CSD_WPLaunch...

#IllicitFinance #SanctionsEvasion #GIACE @csdbuildbridges.bsky.social
September 2, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
(2/2) Discover more about the project here: giace.org/projects/ill...
August 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
(1/2) Sanctions don’t always stop the flow – they change its route.
@csdbuildbridges.bsky.social's research reveals how legal loopholes and weak enforcement are allowing sensitive EU dual-use goods to reach Russia through third-country re-export hubs.

Read the full blog here: bit.ly/CSDBlog
August 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
New blog by @devipillay.co.za: As Bain leaves South Africa, what have we learned about consultancies & corruption?
Read: bit.ly/DeviBainblog

📅 On 23 September 2025, we’ll publish our new paper: Consulting firms, corruption & state capture: A case study from South Africa (Follow to get it first!)
As Bain leaves South Africa, what have we learned about consultancies and corruption? - Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence
bit.ly
August 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
📢 New on the CSC blog: @csc-barrington.bsky.social explores what the upcoming Lammy Summit might signal for UK leadership on illicit finance and anti-corruption—opportunity or missed chance?

🔗 bit.ly/CSCBlog10
#IllicitFinance #Anticorruption #Governance #UKPolicy #CSC #LammySummit #Transparency
July 21, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
New on the CSC blog: @robynlewis.bsky.social & Michael Johnston explore how informal elite networks - what they term Elite Cartels - may shape governance and development outcomes in Tasmania.
🔗 bit.ly/CSCblog11
#Governance #CSC #EliteCartels #Tasmania #PublicPolicy
July 22, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
🔴 How can a captured bank become an engine of grand corruption❓

Our new briefing dives deep into the Congo Hold-Up investigation to reveal the tactics used to embezzle and launder funds through BGFIBank in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

acdatacollective.org/work/inside-...
Inside the Congo Hold-Up – ACDC
acdatacollective.org
July 10, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
Financial institutions are the arteries of modern economies—but when captured, they become pipelines for illicit wealth.
@acdatacollective.bsky.social's new brief "Inside the Congo Hold-Up" shows how BGFIBank DRC was hijacked by the Kabila regime to launder public funds.

🔗 bit.ly/ACDCPolicyBr...
Inside the Congo Hold-Up: How a Captured Bank Enabled Grand Corruption - Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence
This briefing reveals how BGFIBank DRC was transformed into a vehicle for grand corruption by Congo’s ruling elite. It details how illicit financial flows were enabled through mis-invoicing, fictitiou...
bit.ly
July 10, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
The June GI ACE newsletter is out!

✅ Congo Hold-Up spotlight & upcoming seminar
✅ Blogs on grassroots resistance & UNCAC
✅ New GI ACE Fellowship
✅ Latest KickBack on inclusion & power

📖 Read: bit.ly/GIACENewsletterJune
📬 Subscribe: bit.ly/giacesubscribe

#GIACE #AntiCorruption #StateCapture
July 2, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
"What if the next generation of anticorruption leaders had the support they needed to turn ideas into impact?

We've launched a pioneering Fellowship to do just that, equipping early-career researchers with the tools, networks & mentorship to drive meaningful change.

Read: bit.ly/fellowship-b...
Our Hopes for a Pioneering Fellowship for Early Career Researchers - Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence
https://bit.ly/fellowship-blog"
June 27, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
🚨 Upcoming ACE Seminar
Inside the Congo Hold-Up: How a Captured Bank Enabled Grand Corruption

🗓️ 10 July 2025
🕓 4–5 PM UK Time
💻 Online
🔗 Register: bit.ly/aceseminar8

@lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social @sussexscsc.bsky.social @szakonyi.bsky.social @acdatacollective.bsky.social
June 18, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
What does state capture mean for UNCAC implementation?
In a new #GIACE blog, Tom Shipley explores how the UNCAC process often overlooks the systemic nature of capture, and what a more effective approach could look like.

🔗 Blog: giace.org/statecapture...
🔗 Also Read: bit.ly/uncaccoaliti...
June 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
Some snapshots from the #ICRNForum2025

Powerful insights from the GIACE community in today's sessions:
🛠️ Tools of Change, spotlighting innovation from the Global South in tackling corruption (Fellows)
🗳️ Joint Session: Corruption & Democracy,with @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social as one of the speakers.
June 12, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
Israel is a genocidal rogue state. Nothing could be clearer. Outrageous, abhorrent and intolerable that our government continues to provide arms, military surveillance, and diplomatic cover to this regime.
June 13, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
When did you ever hear the BBC stating that it must alter “story selection” and “other types of output, such as drama”, to win the trust of Green voters, or of unrepresented people on the left?
All the shifts are in just one direction.
bylinetimes.com/2025/06/09/b...
BBC Bosses Draw Up Plans to Win Over Reform Voters by Changing News and Drama Output
The Director General Tim Davie and other executives discussed altering BBC “story selection” in order to secure the "trust" of supporters of Nigel Farage’s party
bylinetimes.com
June 10, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
We’re excited to launch the inaugural Governance & Integrity Fellowship in Vienna this week (12–14 June), in partnership with @icrn-research.bsky.social.
The Fellowship supports 12 early career researchers from the Global South working on governance, integrity & anti-corruption.
June 3, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
I am constantly baffled by the inability of people making this argument to treat children as humans. Take a family. You think they shouldn’t have had a third child. Maybe they did, in fact, make a bad decision. You win. Now, what do you want the child to eat: is your scolding especially nutritious?
Jason Cowley loves to quote Jo White because they are both terrible in precisely the same way
June 1, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
🚨The latest GI ACE newsletter is out now—featuring new research on civil society & state capture, events on Congo Hold-Up and shifting financial hubs, plus a deep dive into South Africa’s Zondo Commission.

🔗Read & subscribe: bit.ly/giacenewslet...

#AntiCorruption #CorruptionResearch #StateCapture
GI ACE News: Insights & Updates
bit.ly
May 30, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Devi Pillay
Agather Atuhaire @AAgather is free after four days of being held incomunicado and tortured. Now all political prisoners in Uganda, Tanzania and all of East Africa must be freed. And those who disappear and torture people must be held accountable.
May 23, 2025 at 7:41 AM