Denial of Safe Haven to Corrupt Officials OAS Anti Corruption Meeting March 28 th 2005 Stephen Baker BakerPlatt
Key is Political Will Political Will of: The victim country; Transit countries; The country harbouring assets; and Those countries whose companies have paid bribes.
A Strategy There must be a strategy Where has the money gone? How has the money gone? How are we going to get the money back?
Where Has It Gone? How Has It Gone? Understanding Methods of Corruption False invoicing; Inflation of contract prices; False consultancy services; Manipulation of privatisation schemes; Direct theft.
Denial of Safe Haven How to Get it Back Criminal Recovery? Civil Recovery? Both ? Understand the difference between common law and civil law systems Keep the material gathered secure and secret
Use of Criminal Investigations Criminal law system of the victim country; Criminal law systems of those countries harbouring assets; Prompting investigations by those sheltering assets; Ukraine and California; Evidence gathering.
International Co-operation Which country should be approached first? The distinction between the United Kingdom and Switzerland Le dossier Is a Treaty needed? Turning information into evidence Understanding the distinctions between countries’ systems.
Use of Civil Asset Recovery Methods Where to sue? Who to sue? Which countries are most favourable to these actions? Benefits of civil law systems Benefits of common law systems Will the overseas government help in civil recovery? Asset recovery agency, London Will it work?
A Cause For Optimism Just under half a billion dollars returned to Nigeria from Switzerland Over one hundred and sixty million dollars returned to Nigeria from Jersey, Channel Islands Why? Political will Switzerland and Jersey. Will others pay money back? Why have others not paid money back?
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