Devi Pillay
South African in London
Anti-corruption & state capture research @giace.bsky.social and @parinstitute.bsky.social
Fiber & textile arts
Pictures of my cat
- Reposted by Devi PillayCrises 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
- Reposted by Devi PillayNew #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...
- 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-...
- Reposted by Devi PillayJoin 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
- Reposted by Devi PillayJoin 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
- Reposted by Devi PillayNew #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
- 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
- Reposted by Devi Pillay(2/2) Discover more about the project here: giace.org/projects/ill...
- 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
- Reposted by Devi PillayNew 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!)
- 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
- Reposted by Devi PillayNew 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
- 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-...
- Reposted by Devi PillayFinancial 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...
- Reposted by Devi PillayThe 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
- 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...
- 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
- Reposted by Devi PillayWhat 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...
- Reposted by Devi PillaySome 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.
- Reposted by Devi PillayIsrael 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.
- Reposted by Devi Pillay[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Devi PillayWe’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.
- Reposted by Devi PillayI 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?
- 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
- Reposted by Devi PillayAgather 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.
- Reposted by Devi Pillay🚨 New GI ACE Research Project Announced We’re pleased to award a new grant to the University of Bristol for: 🧭 “State Capture from the Grassroots: Civil Society Efforts and Public Perceptions” Led by @carynpeiffer.bsky.social, Nic Cheeseman & Zenobia Ismail. 🔗 giace.org/projects/sta...
- Reposted by Devi PillayTanzanian torturers released Boniface Mwangi @bonifacemwangi but still hold Agather Atuhaire @AAgather. We hear stories of screams and blindfolds. @zammagazine.bsky.social calls its following to address Tanzanian President @SuluhuSamia, aka Idi Amin Mama. eastleighvoice.co.ke/national/153...
- Reposted by Devi Pillayvery cool that for ten years people at the heights of political commentary insisted to the point of rage that the paramount threat to free speech was “censorious” college students
- Reposted by Devi PillayAffordability is key to ensuring access to sufficient, clean water and basic human rights. Read more here: pari.org.za/report-empty...
- Reposted by Devi PillayTired of people who should know better pretending this isn’t what it unambiguously is.
- Netanyahu says Israel won’t stop the war until Trump’s plan to remove all Palestinians from Gaza has been implemented, calling the idea ”so correct and so revolutionary.” www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
- I know this has been said a thousand times but the overwhelming majority of white South Africans live a charmed life. What oppressed minority routinely hires their "oppressors" as full-time live-in servants to clean their homes and raise their children and pays them fucking peanuts for it!!!
- "Crime and violence are bad for everyone here" is true but really doesn't get to the heart of why these lies are so egregious.
- Really missing SA Twitter right now
- "A man who is respected in many circles but not in others" okay as a CR hater I did laugh
- A mix of good to frankly bizarre messaging from the SA delegation, but like there is no dignified way to engage at this level with these people. Like what are you even doing here, man
- More thoughts: - SA should have been prepared for that AV ambush - Trump really loved those golfers - Els saying the US helped “them” in the war in Angola was disgusting. What briefing did you even give these guys - "Small minority party" I know Julius is lighting up Twitter and WhatsApp as we speak
- Reposted by Devi PillayFourteen Thousand. The long campaign to dehumanize Palestinians is, fundamentally, about this. To provide cover for the annihilation of a people and their culture, from the youngest to the oldest, to shrugs from the most powerful nations in the world.
- Reposted by Devi PillayNew policy brief from @csdbuildbridges.bsky.social reveals illicit financial flows (IFFs) in the Western Balkans & Black Sea region surged to $31B in 2023. 📘 Read the report: bit.ly/csdpolicybrief 📰 Press release: bit.ly/csdpressrele... #GIACE #IllicitFinance #AntiCorruption
- Reposted by Devi PillayHere is what we confirmed: After Musk’s rise to power in the U.S. government, the State Department has repeatedly coaxed, lobbied and browbeat this tiny West African country into giving business to Musk’s satellite company Starlink.
- Reposted by Devi PillayHer insights are essential for anyone working on accountability in tough political environments. You can also listen to her podcast with @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social and Marianne Camerar on our Kickback podcast: soundcloud.com/kickback-gap...
- Reposted by Devi PillayHow does a state captured by corruption create a commission to investigate itself? #GIACE Fellow @devipillay.co.za reflects on her time with South Africa’s #ZondoCommission – a body that exposed state capture under Zuma+the Guptas, & somehow managed to exist at all. Read here: bit.ly/giaceblog4
- Should I start posting again
- Not just because I'm mad about that final shot of Andor. But not not because of that.
- Reposted by Devi PillayHave you registered yet? Topic: Illicit Financial Flows, Sanctions Evasion, and State Capture: Hidden Trade Routes at the Heart of Global Instability Date: 14th April, 2025 Time: 3 PM - 4PM BST/ 4PM - 5PM CET 🔗 Register now: bit.ly/aceseminar7 #GIACE #AntiCorruption #Seminar #IFFs #StateCapture
- Loved this conversation with Marianne and Liz!
- New KickBack episode: Dr Marianne Camerer & @devipillay.bsky.social join @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social to discuss state capture in South Africa, the role of civil society, and how pressure brought change. Essential listening on anti-corruption. Listen: bit.ly/Soundcloud129 #KickBack #GIACE
- Reposted by Devi PillayBillions of EU 'Green Funds' for South Africa seem wasted as EU companies place extra orders for SA coal, while politically connected 'big coal' poisons entire provinces for the extra buck. By Oliver Stallwood, @jackwolfwolf.bsky.social and Sakhile Dube. www.zammagazine.com/investigatio...
- Reposted by Devi Pillay#GIACE is hosting a #KnowledgePartner session on "Cutting-edge research programmes on tackling corruption today" at the #OECDIntegrity Forum with @bridgegap-eu.bsky.social & RESPOND ft. @csdbuildbridges.bsky.social. 🗓️ March 27 | 10:00–12:00 GMT, 11:00-01:00 CET 🎥 Livestream: bit.ly/giaceoecdkps...
- Reposted by Devi PillayThis research is part of the GI ACE programme's "Gatekeepers, Enablers or Technicians: The Contested Interpretation of Lawyers as Facilitators of Kleptocracy and Grand Corruption" project. Learn More: bit.ly/giaceproject1 #AntiCorruption #IllicitFinance #GIACE #SpotlightOnCorruption
- Reposted by Devi PillayYesterday, the @appgonacrt.bsky.social & @spotlightcorruption.org hosted a thought-provoking event to launch a new report by Dr. Helen Taylor, based on academic research by @tenaprelec.bsky.social, @csc-barrington.bsky.social, @ggarrod.bsky.social, & Pepe Tonin. Full Report: bit.ly/giacepolicyr...
- Reposted by Devi PillayWhy are proponents of ‘smart cities’ neglecting research? nature.com/articles/d41... Federica Duca and her colleagues assessed more than 100 studies, from between 2010 and 2023. The majority of the studies were on, or from, South Africa.
- Reposted by Devi PillayLaunching a new project under the #GIACE State Capture theme: "Building Resilience to State Capture." State capture - where private interests influence public decision-making - poses a major challenge to governance, transparency, and accountability.
- Reposted by Devi PillayExplore the MA in Corruption & Governance at University of Sussex! Dive into an interdisciplinary curriculum, enhance your career options, and gain practical experience through optional internships. Find out more about our alumni: bit.ly/3QJdosh Apply here: bit.ly/CorruptionandGovernanceMA
- Reposted by Devi PillayPARI, with PSAM, The Ethics Institute and The Equality Collective, has just submitted public comment on a central register for tracking dismissals and disciplinary cases across government. Read the full submission here: pari.org.za/public-comme...
- Reposted by Devi Pillay🎥 Watch the Webinar: Ethical Leadership Prof. Jan Hinrik Meyer-Sahling shares insights from Nepal & Bangladesh on ethics training as a tool against corruption. Chaired by Paul M. Heywood with discussant @willekeslingerland.bsky.social. 📺 Watch here: bit.ly/4h1B2Le
- Reposted by Devi PillayIssue #3 of the Kleptocracy Report is out now. Featuring: waves of change across the continent; state capture in the USA; resistance & femicide in Kenya; deadly corruption in the SA water sector; ecocide and green-washing; and much more! kleptocracyreport.substack.com/p/kleptocrac...
- Reposted by Devi PillayNew KickBack Episode! How do US aid cuts impact global anti-corruption efforts? Gary Kalman (@transparencyusa.bsky.social) & Blair Glencorse (Accountability Lab) join @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social to discuss the fallout & alternative funding models. 🎧 Listen now: bit.ly/Soundcloudepisode127
- Reposted by Devi Pillay⭐ EXCITING OPPORTUNITY to join our small friendly team at @spotlightcorruption.org! We're looking for someone to lead our work on defending UK democracy – pushing for reforms to: 👉 enhance public trust in govt & 👉 prevent foreign interference in UK politics. 📆 Deadline: Sunday 16 March #CharityJob
- Reposted by Devi Pillay📢 Upcoming ACE Seminar: Strategic Corruption Join Dr @tenaprelec.bsky.social, Dr Bertram Lang & Dr Claudia Baez Camargo for a discussion on how transnational corruption advances political & economic goals. 📅 20 Feb 2025 | ⏰ 13:00 GMT 🔗 Register: bit.ly/40O7j2r #AntiCorruption
- Reposted by Devi PillayNigeria's protected sanctuaries are increasingly under threat as state governments convert them into upscale residential estates for the elite. Protests from Nigerian environmentalists and local communities are growing louder. Taiwo Adebulu investigated for ZAM: www.zammagazine.com/investigatio...
- Reposted by Devi Pillay📢 New paper by Georgia Garrod & Prof. Robert Barrington @csc-barrington.bsky.social: "Gatekeepers, Enablers or Technicians?" The paper challenges justifications lawyers use in supporting kleptocracy. Read here: bit.ly/CSCPaper1 #Kleptocracy #Corruption #Justice #Law
