Left Out of the Bargain

Book excerpt: It is a conservative estimate that every year, through corruption, between 20 billion dollars and 40 billion dollars are diverted from developing countries and find safe haven in foreign jurisdictions. In several countries that are party to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) anti-bribery convention, a very high proportion of cases of foreign bribery and related offenses have been resolved short of a full trial. Anticorruption practitioners and policy makers in countries where officials were allegedly bribed have (along with other interested stakeholders) therefore raised concerns about whether settlements might impede their own criminal or enforcement investigations and affect the liability of multinational companies in third countries. This study seeks to fill knowledge gap by: (i) informing policy makers and practitioners about the frameworks for settlements in various legal systems, (ii) examining settlements in practice and their implications for international cooperation, and (iii) analyzing how settlements relate to asset recovery in foreign bribery cases. An additional goal is to inform the general public (including civil society organizations) about these frameworks. This study describes and analyzes, both qualitatively and quantitatively, settlements in cases of foreign bribery and related offenses, and their implications for international cooperation and asset recovery. This report is structured as follows: chapter one adopts a broad definition of settlements as various procedures short of trials and analyzes the legal frameworks in a number of civil and common law countries. Chapter two traces the general trends and developments in settlements and considers the rationale for settlements. Chapter three analyzes the impact of settlements in one jurisdiction on pending and future investigations in other countries. Chapter four explores the link between asset recovery and settlements through the lens of United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Chapter five offers conclusions. Chapter six presents detailed summaries of 14 significant cases.