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U.S. Promotes Forceful International Anti-corruption Efforts

The United States aggressively is addressing corruption issues at international fora and through domestic initiatives, a State Department official says.

David Luna, director for anti-corruption and governance initiatives in the department’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, said that core areas of U.S. diplomatic efforts include promoting cooperation on anti-corruption and encouraging strong enforcement actions by other countries to prosecute corrupt dictators and officials.

Luna spoke December 9 at an American Bar Association seminar in Washington that was organized to coincide with International Anticorruption Day.

Luna said that the U.N. Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), which he called the “most comprehensive” anti-corruption instrument, is quickly becoming a focal point for international anti-corruption action.

UNCAC promotes prevention of corruption, changes in domestic laws to make corruption a criminal offense, international cooperation on extradition, mutual legal assistance and the recovery and return of stolen assets. The pact has been signed by 137 countries and ratified by 37 since the U.N. signing ceremony in 2003 in Merida, Mexico. President Bush has submitted the convention to the U.S. Senate for formal ratification.

Now, countries need to turn the political will into “demonstrable” action, Luna said, calling the implementation challenge a “hard task.

He said that the United States will continue intensifying international cooperation on identifying and preventing access by corrupt officials to financial systems, denying safe haven to such officials and working on related issues because it wants fighting corruption to become second nature for most governments in the foreseeable future.

Luna highlighted the U.S. denial of safe haven for corrupt public officials, those who corrupt them and the assets they steal as a policy that sends a strong message about the U.S. commitment to crack down on corrupt officials.

“Implementation of [this measure] has sent shock waves that have reverberated across the world,” he said.

Luna also addressed the issue of civil society participation in anti-corruption efforts.

For additional information, see Bribery and Corruption Archive.

Following is the text of his remarks as prepared for delivery:

PROSECUTING KLEPTOCRATS
DENYING SAFE HAVEN TO CORRUPT OFFICIALS AND THEIR ILLICITLY-ACQUIRED ASSETS

Remarks by David M. Luna
Director for Anticorruption & Governance Initiatives, INL
U.S. Department of State

International Anticorruption Day
“International Recovery of the Proceeds of Corruption” Seminar
American Bar Association (ABA) Section of International Law
Anticorruption Initiatives & Compliance Issues Committee
December 9, 2005

Good afternoon.

Before beginning my brief remarks, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the ABA’s Section of International Law, Anticorruption Initiatives & Compliance Issues Committee, for hosting this seminar and for inviting me to participate, especially on the United Nations’ International Anticorruption Day.

I would also like to applaud the leadership that the ABA, through its various regional assistance initiatives, continually provides throughout the world in advancing the rule of law and in helping to train attorneys, committed reformers, and some of the future leaders of tomorrow on numerous international and criminal law issues.

Today, I would like to focus on three topic areas in the fight against corruption generally and in asset recovery in particular:

• President Bush’s “No Safe Haven” Policy; 

• The Significance of the UN Convention Against Corruption; and

• The Importance of International Cooperation and Public-Private Partnerships.

U.S. Global Leadership on Anticorruption

As President George W. Bush said recently when he transmitted the UN Convention Against Corruption to the Senate: "The international fight against corruption is an important foreign policy priority for the United States."

It is a priority for many reasons.   Corruption threatens many of our national interests globally including ensuring security and stability, upholding the rule of law and core democratic values, advancing prosperity, and creating a level playing field for lawful business activities.  Corrupt practices contribute to the spread of organized crime and terrorism, undermine public trust in government and destabilize entire communities and economies.

Furthermore, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated in her remarks to an ABA Rule of Law symposium last month: "Today, the greatest challenges that we face emerge more from within states than between them – from states that are either unable or unwilling to apply the rule of law within their borders.  In a world where threats pass even through the most fortified boundaries, weak and poorly governed states enable disease to spread undetected and corruption to multiply unchecked and hateful ideologies to grow more violent and more vengeful. . . . Where the rule of law is undermined by government corruption, we are offering incentives for honest and transparent behavior." 

Promoting international cooperation on anticorruption and encouraging strong enforcement actions by other nations to prosecute corrupt dictators and kleptocrats are core areas of our diplomatic efforts globally.  Kleptocrats are callous thieves who rob citizens of their potential and aspirations for a brighter future: a better education, better healthcare, and better access to housing, food and water, and other subsistence needs. 

With Presidential leadership in various multilateral fora including the Group of Eight (G8), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Summit of the Americas, and the Global Forum on Fighting Corruption, the United States Government (USG) has been aggressively addressing issues concerning kleptocracy, including for example -- by denying safe haven to corrupt officials, to those who corrupt them, their illicitly-acquired assets -- and, prosecuting those engaged in bribery, including in international business transactions. 

As my colleagues from the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) and the U.S. Department of The Treasury’s FINCEN will discuss shortly, the U.S. is effectively working through various international cooperation mechanisms and utilizing law enforcement investigation and forfeiture tools with which to trace and recover the proceeds of grand corruption and to provide assistance to foreign investigations to recover assets.  

President Bush’s “No Safe Haven” Policy

On January 12, 2004, President Bush issued Presidential Proclamation 7750 (PP7750) to suspend entry into the United States for individuals involved in public corruption that has a serious adverse effect on specified U.S. interests. 

PP 7750 was issued, in part, under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA), which allows the President by proclamation to “suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants” into the United States whenever such entry “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

PP 7750 provides specific legal authority for the Secretary of State to identify persons who should be denied because they are involved in public corruption that has serious adverse effects on the national interests of the United States, including: (1) the international economic activity of U.S. businesses, (2) U.S. foreign assistance goals, (3) the security of the United States against transnational crime and terrorism, and (4) the stability of democratic nations and institutions.

PP7750 prevents such people from coming to the United States to enjoy the fruits of their corruption, and sends a strong message that the United States is committed to supporting international efforts to combating public corruption wherever it occurs.  Implementation of PP7750 has sent shock waves that have reverberated across the world that signal that the United States is committed to cracking down on corrupt officials.

The Significance of the UN Convention Against Corruption

The UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is quickly becoming a focal point for international anticorruption action.  The USG is supportive: the UNCAC is the first truly globally negotiated anticorruption treaty and the most comprehensive existing anticorruption instrument.

International standards for addressing public corruption have been well set.  The UNCAC provides an excellent snapshot of what is considered an effective anti-corruption regime and outlines the important and sometimes tough actions that governments must take to address corruption.

The UNCAC includes several fundamental principles that are critical in the fight against corruption including provisions that require (and some that recommend) criminalization of certain corrupt behavior, require (and recommend) a wide range of measures to prevent corruption, facilitate international cooperation, and establish a framework for recovery of illicitly-acquired assets sent abroad by corrupt officials.  Many developing countries saw the problem of corrupt officials acquiring assets illicitly and hiding those assets in other countries as the core problem that the Convention should address. 

With respect to international cooperation in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting corruption, the UNCAC outlines measures concerning extradition, mutual legal assistance, exchanges of information, joint investigations, and areas related to training and technical assistance.

The UNCAC was opened for signature in December 2003.  As of early December 2005, at least 137 countries had signed and 37 countries had become parties.  The United States is not a party, but in late October 2005, the President submitted the UNCAC, along with the report of the Department of State, to the US Senate for its advice and consent to ratification.  An Ad Hoc Committee will convene in January 2006 to draft the rules of procedure for UNCAC’s Conference of the States Parties (COSP), and we anticipate that the first COSP will convene sometime during Fall 2006.

The USG has also been actively working with other governments on promoting the UNCAC and the policy of denying safe haven to corrupt individuals as the cornerstones for regional and multilateral cooperation, including, most recently, within the G-8, APEC, OAS, and in the UNDP-OECD Middle East “Good Governance for Development” initiative.

Similarly, the United States continues to work for effective implementation of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and other OECD anti-bribery measures.  The U.S. is encouraging other governments to take active steps to enforce the OECD Bribery Convention, by investigating and prosecuting persons who pay or promise to pay bribes to foreign public officials, just as U.S. enforcement agencies do under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

The Importance of International Cooperation and Public-Private Partnerships

International anticorruption efforts must be comprehensive -- and include not only a commitment to enforcing the laws against those who commit corrupt acts, but equally important, supporting and ensuring participation of civil society. 

The rule of law must also be reinforced by the dynamic and participatory activities of the Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and business community. The U.S. is committed to support these groups and a free media to have an unfettered voice in fighting corruption and to build a culture of lawfulness in society.

President Bush’s Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) will expand the circle of development by providing resources to aid countries that are committed to rule justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom.  The President has forcefully stated that countries that are effectively rooting out corruption will be rewarded under this development assistance program.

U.S. anticorruption programs, such as those programs by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and USAID, will enhance the MCA and other of our development assistance initiatives by providing capacity and training in areas related to police, investigators, prosecutors, judges, ethics offices, auditors, inspectors general, and other oversight, regulatory and law enforcement systems at the national and municipal levels of government. 

In recent years, INL has provided resources to the USDOJ and to the ABA’s Asia Council focused on issues related to the denial of safe haven, asset forfeiture, extradition, and other related enforcement issues in Africa, the Americas, and in the Asia Pacific region.

Conclusion

Moving forward, governments know what they have to do.  While the UNCAC offers an invaluable tool in the global fight against corruption, the hard task of harnessing the political will into demonstrable actions remains ahead of us. 

The U.S. is committed to working to ensure that, fifteen years from now, taking effective actions against corruption becomes second nature for most governments in the world.  

The United States will continue intensifying international cooperation to identify and prevent access by kleptocrats to financial systems; to deny safe haven to corrupt officials; to identify, recover and return proceeds of corruption; and to provide anticorruption assistance for capacity and training to strengthen critical law enforcement and rule of law systems.   

I look forward to your questions.

Thank you.