Events
The Silent Invasion: How Strategic Corruption Is Infiltrating Democratic Societies
The ECS Working Group on Whistleblowing cordially invites you to its next in-person event, held in collaboration with the ECS Working Group Anti-Bribery and Corruption.
The Silent Invasion: How Strategic Corruption Is Infiltrating Democratic Societies
Location: FHGR Standort Zürich | Limmatstrasse 21 | Zürich | Room Z.0.01
Date/Time: June 17, 2026, from 5.15 to 6.30 p.m.
Speaker: Heribert Hirte, Professor, Vice President of Transparency International Germany.
Today, democratic institutions face an invisible threat: strategic corruption. Traditional transactional bribery primarily focuses on private enrichment and commercial advantage. Strategic corruption, on the other hand, involves foreign actors using covert financial and political tactics. These actors aim to undermine democratic processes and public trust to gain geopolitical leverage and subvert institutions.
In this session, Professor Heribert Hirte will analyze this “silent invasion.” He is a renowned legal expert, former member of the German Parliament, and Vice President of Transparency International Germany. Drawing on his background as a scholar and policymaker, Professor Hirte will explain how systemic loopholes are exploited to compromise national and corporate integrity. Join us to learn how to defend your organization’s core values against these sophisticated foreign influences. The Q&A session will be moderated by Christian Hauser.
Heribert Hirte is a professor emeritus of law. Most recently, he held a chair in civil, commercial, corporate, and economic law at the University of Hamburg. His work significantly focuses on transparency issues—ranging from shareholding structures and commercial or land registers to the transparency of judicial decisions and influence on the judiciary. As a directly elected Member of Parliament, he represented the district Cologne II in the German Bundestag from 2013 to 2021. During this time, he served as deputy and acting chairman of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection, chaired the Subcommittee on European Law, and was a full member of the Committee on European Union Affairs. Hirte is an active fellow of the “Bürgerbewegung Finanzwende” and has served on the board of Transparency International Germany since 2022.