Left Out of the Bargain ― Enforcing Foreign Bribery Laws and Implications for Asset Recovery

The battle against the bribery of foreign public officials is critical to the overall fight against corruption. Corruption undermines the governance, rule of law, and economic and social development of countries – all of which can be seen in foreign bribery cases.“Left Out of the Bargain” examines the enforcement of foreign bribery cases in many countries around the world – cases which are largely being carried out against companies and related individuals that supply the bribes – and found that most cases are being resolved by the use of settlements (that is, any procedure short of a full trial). While welcoming the progress made in the past decade particularly by developed countries in enforcement of foreign bribery, the study posits that there are additional elements which should be considered:‧ What happens to the fruits of these illegal transactions, and are they being returned to those most directly harmed by the corrupt practices? ‧ Left out of the Bargain’ looked at 395 settlements cases. These cases resulted in a total of USD 6.9 billion in monetary sanctions. Nearly USD 6 billion of this amount resulted from criminal and civil monetary sanctions imposed by a country different from the country that employed the official (who was bribed or allegedly bribed). Of those sanctions, most were imposed by the countries where the corrupt companies (and related individuals) are headquartered, live or otherwise operate. Of the total USD 6.9 billion, only about USD 197 million or 3.3 percent has been returned or ordered returned to the countries whose officials have taken bribes or allegedly taken bribes‧ What is the effect of the uneven transparency and varying levels of judicial review of these settlements?‧ What is their impact on potential efforts at enforcement of the same case by other countries?Using the lens of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, with its virtually universal reach with ratification by nearly 170 countries, “Left Out of the Bargain” sought to answer these questions and in doing so, provide policy makers, practitioners and all other stakeholders in the fight against corruption with a platform for informed and critical discussion on settlements and their implications for asset recovery.