The Value of Negotiated Settlements in Foreign Bribery Cases

The Value of Negotiated Settlements in Foreign Bribery Cases
Author: Abiola O. Makinwa
Publisher:
Total Pages: 22
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

As negotiated settlements for corruption offences spread across jurisdictions, the appropriateness and value of such settlements for the sanctioning of the serious offence of foreign bribery is the subject of increasing contention. Questions are posed about the compatibility of negotiated settlements with the rule of law. Questions are also posed about the actual deterrent effect of negotiated settlements. This paper explores the 'value' of negotiated settlements and argues that we must use the right metric for this assessment. The paper argues that while metrics may indeed be developed to measure how 'effective', 'proportionate,' or 'dissuasive' negotiated settlements are as a sanction against corruption, the better metric of 'value' is probably found in Art. 1(c) of UNCAC, i.e. to 'promote integrity, accountability and proper management of public affairs and public property'. Accountability and enforcement is, and has always been, the albatross of the fight against corruption. Negotiated settlements provide an alternative mechanism of enforcement that is arguably more suited to the environment in which foreign bribery occurs. In addition, the paper argues that that the 'value' of negotiated settlements depends on the particular context from which it is viewed. Conclusions reached in one context about negotiated settlements may not be relevant with regard to another context. However, whether viewed from a corporate criminal punishment context, or, from a rule of law context, or, from a good governance context, encouraging self-policing, self-reporting and the self-regulation, may, very simply, be the only way to bridge the impunity gap of institutionalized corruption. Bridging that gap is the true value of negotiated settlements.

Negotiated Settlements in Bribery Cases

Negotiated Settlements in Bribery Cases
Author: Tina Søreide
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2020-04-24
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1788970411

This thought-provoking book examines the scope, benefits and challenges of negotiated settlements as an enforcement mechanism in bribery cases, and demonstrates the need for a more harmonized and principled approach to deterring corporate bribery. Written by a global team of experts with backgrounds in legal practice, policy work and academia, it offers a truly international perspective, considering negotiated settlements in view of a variety of different legal systems and traditions.

Left Out of the Bargain

Left Out of the Bargain
Author: Jacinta Anyango Oduor
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2013-12-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464800871

Over the past decade, countries have increasingly used settlements that is, any procedure short of a full trial to conclude foreign bribery cases and have imposed billions in monetary sanctions. There exists a gap in knowledge, however, regarding settlement practices around the world and the disposition of these monetary sanctions notably through the lens of recovery of stolen assets. Left out of the Bargain, a study by the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), provides an overview of settlement practices by civil and common law countries that have been active in the fight against foreign bribery. Using the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) as its point of reference, the study addresses concerns voiced by the international community: What happens to the money associated with the settlements, and is it being returned to those most directly harmed by the corrupt practices? And what can be done to assist those countries harmed by foreign bribery? Left out of the Bargain has found that 395 settlement cases took place between 1999 and mid-2012, resulting in a total of US$6.9 billion in monetary sanctions imposed against companies and individuals. Of this amount, nearly US$6 billion came from settlements that took place in a country different from that of the allegedly bribed foreign public officials. But only about US$197 million, or 3 percent, has been returned or ordered returned to the countries whose officials were accused of accepting bribes. Left out of the Bargain urges countries whose officials were allegedly bribed to intensify their efforts to investigate and prosecute the providers and recipients of foreign bribes, hence improving these countries' prospects for recovery of assets lost through corruption. The study also calls for more proactive international cooperation and coordination to ensure that all affected countries are afforded the opportunity to seek redress for harms suffered and for the recovery of assets thus fulfilling the principles set out in UNCAC.

Resolving Foreign Bribery Cases with Non-Trial Resolutions Settlements and Non-Trial Agreements by Parties to the Anti-Bribery Convention

Resolving Foreign Bribery Cases with Non-Trial Resolutions Settlements and Non-Trial Agreements by Parties to the Anti-Bribery Convention
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2019-03-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9264677852

Non-trial resolutions, often referred to as settlements, have been the predominant means of enforcing foreign bribery and other related offences since the entry into force of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention 20 years ago. The last decade has seen a steady increase in the use of coordinated multi-jurisdictional non-trial resolutions, which have, to date, permitted the highest global amount of combined financial penalties in foreign bribery cases. This study is the first cross-country examination of the different types of resolutions that can be used to resolve foreign bribery cases.

Corrupt Cities

Corrupt Cities
Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2000
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780821346006

Much of the devastation caused by the recent earthquake in Turkey was the result of widespread corruption between the construction industry and government officials. Corruption is part of everyday public life and we tend to take it for granted. However, preventing corruption helps to raise city revenues, improve service delivery, stimulate public confidence and participation, and win elections. This book is designed to help citizens and public officials diagnose, investigate and prevent various kinds of corrupt and illicit behaviour. It focuses on systematic corruption rather than the free-lance activity of a few law-breakers, and emphasises practical preventive measures rather than purely punitive or moralistic campaigns.

Stolen Asset Recovery

Stolen Asset Recovery
Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2009
Genre: Law
ISBN: 082137902X

This book is a first-of-its-kind, practice-based guide of 36 key concepts?legal, operational, and practical--that countries can use to develop non-conviction based (NCB) forfeiture legislation that will be effective in combating the development problem of corruption and recovering stolen assets.

Too Big to Jail

Too Big to Jail
Author: Brandon L. Garrett
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2014-11-03
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0674744616

American courts routinely hand down harsh sentences to individual convicts, but a very different standard of justice applies to corporations. Too Big to Jail takes readers into a complex, compromised world of backroom deals, for an unprecedented look at what happens when criminal charges are brought against a major company in the United States. Federal prosecutors benefit from expansive statutes that allow an entire firm to be held liable for a crime by a single employee. But when prosecutors target the Goliaths of the corporate world, they find themselves at a huge disadvantage. The government that bailed out corporations considered too economically important to fail also negotiates settlements permitting giant firms to avoid the consequences of criminal convictions. Presenting detailed data from more than a decade of federal cases, Brandon Garrett reveals a pattern of negotiation and settlement in which prosecutors demand admissions of wrongdoing, impose penalties, and require structural reforms. However, those reforms are usually vaguely defined. Many companies pay no criminal fine, and even the biggest blockbuster payments are often greatly reduced. While companies must cooperate in the investigations, high-level employees tend to get off scot-free. The practical reality is that when prosecutors face Hydra-headed corporate defendants prepared to spend hundreds of millions on lawyers, such agreements may be the only way to get any result at all. Too Big to Jail describes concrete ways to improve corporate law enforcement by insisting on more stringent prosecution agreements, ongoing judicial review, and greater transparency.

Asset Recovery Handbook

Asset Recovery Handbook
Author: Jean-Pierre Brun
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2011-01-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821386352

This handbook is designed as a 'how-to' manual that guides practitioners as they grapple with the strategic, organizational, investigative, and legal challenges of recovering assets that have been stolen by corrupt leaders and hidden abroad.