The Fight Against Corruption: Ending Impunity
Elizabeth G. Verville
Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
Affairs
APEC Anticorruption Conference
Lima,
Peru
October 29, 2007
The Fight Against High-Level Corruption: Ending Impunity
Minister Zavala Valladares, Ambassador Capuñay, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The United States welcomes the opportunity to participate at this important APEC event to advance our joint efforts to prevent and combat high-level corruption, deny safe haven, and recover stolen assets.
I am particularly pleased and honored to participate in this opening session and want to wish the Government of Peru every success in its leadership of APEC in 2008. Es mi gran placer visitar Perú por la primera vez.
I believe that this Conference is perfectly timed and structured to make a major contribution to the global fight against corruption.
Because of the commitment and hard work by APEC and other international partners, we have made great strides in confronting this global scourge.
Once a taboo subject, today we regularly cooperate through frank and open channels, rolling up our sleeves to work pragmatically in addressing governance challenges and establishing a community of integrity.
We also have established strong national, regional and global frameworks to combat corruption.
These synergies have strengthened our common agenda. I strongly believe that the institutions and mechanisms we have put in place and the initiatives we are taking through the United Nations, in APEC and other regional efforts and nationally, in conjunction with civil society, the private sector and international financial institutions can make a difference if we apply our energy and ingenuity to the task.
Let me say a little about each of these levels of anticorruption efforts, and why I have high expectations for the outcome of this Conference.
Global Efforts - the United Nations Convention against Corruption
The United Nations Convention against Corruption, affectionately called "UNCAC", now has 103 Parties and has globalized the fight against corruption. No longer do we have one economy or set of economies telling others what they should be doing to combat corruption. For the first time we have agreed on global standards, so the question becomes not what we should be doing but how well are doing in implementing the Convention and what help states parties might need.
Dimitri Vlassis, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Secretariat for the Conference of States Parties (COSP) can tell us more about how implementation efforts are going.
The Parties identified at their first meeting last December the key issues for initial concentration of implementation, including criminalizing the mandatory Convention offenses and implementing mutual legal cooperation, asset recovery and selected prevention provisions.
Utilizing a streamlined information-gathering tool and computer programs, Mr. Vlassis will be able to inform the second meeting of the States Parties in January in Indonesia of implementation progress and the kinds of technical assistance that particular states parties may need in order to implement specific priority Convention articles. As I am sure you know, the Convention contains the first ever roadmap for cooperation on asset recovery, a subject at the heart of our APEC agenda as well, and a subject on which Peru and the United States worked very closely during the negotiation as co-sponsors of the original proposals.
Regional Efforts - APEC Leaders' Commitment to Combat Corruption in the Asia Pacific Region
APEC Leaders' have made a strong commitment to fight corruption, particularly high-level corruption, most recently in Sydney to promote regional cooperation on extradition, mutual legal assistance and the recovery and return of proceeds of corruption.
Building on the will of our leaders, I propose that APEC members take a leading role at the upcoming COSP by having the broadest rate of ratifications and accessions and responses to UNODC's checklist on the status of implementation.
We should also seek to develop here in Lima specific ideas that we might take to Indonesia to promote effective implementation of UNCAC, including in the three working groups created by the Conference: asset recovery, review of implementation and technical assistance. APEC is well positioned to take a leading role at the COSP because of its regional high level initiatives over the past several years. It is also fitting that we support Indonesia as host.
Because of the expertise assembled here on asset recovery, we especially would like to see the APEC Anticorruption Task Force consider innovative programs to strengthen cooperation and capacities on asset recovery.
One possibility would be for APEC to consider actions to advance the tracing of the proceeds of corruption consistent with implementation of Chapter V of UNCAC including by supporting capacity building activities so that economies have in place the legal and institutional measures necessary for an effective asset recovery regime.
APEC can also help lead the way by having pragmatic workshops to bring together expert practitioners on legislative reform and law enforcement techniques related to tracing of assets, forfeiture, and jurisdiction over assets located abroad.
Capacity-building in crafting effective requests for mutual legal assistance is another priority underscored by participants that APEC might consider.
National Efforts -- U.S. Efforts to Combat High-Level Corruption
National efforts, of course, are fundamental to our joint efforts to effectively combat corruption.
Let me give you a brief update on recent U.S. priorities in combating corruption. At home, we are investigating, prosecuting and convicting corrupt public officials at all levels of government.
Between 2001 and 2005, the most recent period for which we have data, the Justice Department charged over 5,749 individuals with public corruption offenses nationwide and obtained an 85% conviction rate. Many more individuals have been convicted at the state and local levels.
In addition to preventing, investigating, and prosecuting corruption, we are working to stem corruption around the world.
Last year, the United States launched an initiative to combat high-level grand public corruption, or "Kleptocracy."
With the purpose of internationalizing efforts against kleptocracy, this initiative seeks to prevent high-level corruption by denying safe haven to corrupt public officials and their assets and enhancing global capacity to return stolen assets to the people from whom they were taken.
Our specific objectives are to:
* launch a coalition of committed partners to trace and recover the proceeds of grand corruption;
* vigorously prosecute foreign corruption offenses and forfeit illicitly acquired assets;
* deny physical safe haven to corrupt individuals;
* strengthen multilateral action against the bribery of kleptocrats;
* facilitate the effective disposition and administration of recovered assets for the benefit of the citizens of jurisdictions victimized by grand corruption; and
* target enhanced capacity to fight high-level corruption.
We know other APEC members are also taking strong anti-corruption actions. Since we are in Lima, I will single out the example of Peru's leadership in combating high-level corruption by prosecuting Vladimiro Montesinos and others.
These successful Peruvian prosecutions demonstrate to the world that power is not unlimited and that when communities mobilize to say "enough of corruption", the will of the people can help to check and redress abuses of power and restore integrity and trust in public institutions.
It is also noteworthy that by creating an interlocking network of anticorruption entities such as the Controlaria General, the Defensora del Pueblo (National Ombudsman Office), the newly formed National Anti-Corruption Office and the judicial system, the Government of Peru is responding energetically to the will of its people to make a difference in Peru and to help it become part of the community of integrity within APEC.
Collective Action: The Way Forward in 2008
Looking to 2008, the United States is committed to work with our APEC partners and others in the international community who are prosecuting the battle against corruption to effectively implement our leaders commitments and contribute to a strong and practical agenda for the COSP and implementation of UNCAC. We need to keep up our efforts on all fronts, including through the Financial Action Task Force and the related FATF-style regional bodies to ensure that we have in place proper regulatory measures to counter money laundering.
Similarly, global initiatives such as the Stolen Asset Recovery or "STAR," unveiled by the World Bank and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) last month, can help strengthen and expand our collective efforts and capacity to address these issues.
There is a saying that "a rising tide lifts all boats." We have confidence that the APEC is that rising tide, lifting its member economies closer to the ultimate goal of a region with reduced corruption.
APEC must continue to provide regional and global leadership in fighting corruption, denying safe haven to corrupt officials and their assets, and strengthening capacities and international cooperation.
I am confident that it will continue to do so both in the region and at the January Conference in Indonesia.
Muchísimas Gracias!
ENDS
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