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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 April 2018
Article 51 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption sets forth the return of assets diverted through corruption as a fundamental principle of the Convention. This raises the question of whether the State where the stolen assets are located is entitled to refuse their repatriation or subject it to certain conditions. This article analyses the Convention and the policy considerations behind it and argues that such a State has a wider discretion over the return of stolen assets than is often thought. Furthermore, the article argues that the rule of law may be better served if States take vigorous action to confiscate the proceeds of corruption regardless of whether they are ultimately repatriated.
1 2349 UNTS 141.
2 Bertossa, B, ‘What Makes Asset Recovery So Difficult in Practice?’ in Pieth, M (ed), Recovering Stolen Assets (Peter Lang 2008) 22Google Scholar.
3 There are likely to be a number of Holding States in cases of large-scale corruption.
4 BOTA Foundation, ‘The BOTA Foundation: Final Summative Report’ (12 February 2015). The establishment of BOTA Foundation results from the prosecution of an American businessman James Giffen for alleged bribery in Kazakhstan under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977. See US v Giffen, 473 F3d 30 (2nd Cir 8 December 2006); JA Oduor et al., Left out of the Bargain: Settlements in Foreign Bribery Cases and Implications for Asset Recovery (Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative 2014) 125–8; Cooley, A and Heathershaw, J, Dictators without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia (Yale University Press 2017) 75–6Google Scholar. After Switzerland froze the US$84 million that Giffen had allegedly paid as a bribe into a Kazakh official's Swiss bank account, the money was used to establish the BOTA Foundation. See US v Approximately $84 Million on Deposit in Account No T-94025 in the Name of the Treasury of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Case No 2:07-cv-03559 (SDNY 3 May 2007) Verified Complaint.
5 The UNCAC speaks interchangeably of assets and property, eg art 51 refers to the ‘return of assets’ while art 53(a) speaks of ‘title to or ownership of property acquired through the commission of an offence’. The present article uses these terms interchangeably. It also occasionally speaks of ‘money’ or ‘funds’ in recognition of the fact that the return of illiquid forms of wealth, such as real estate, is normally effected by selling it and repatriating the proceeds. The terms ‘return’ and ‘repatriation’ are also used interchangeably.
6 US v All Funds Held in Account Number CH1408760000050335300 at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie Bank, Switzerland, et al, Case No 1:16-cv-01257 (SDNY 17 February 2017) Verified Complaint. Regarding the use of the funds that may be forfeited, see Cooley and Heathershaw (n 4) 128–31. Before the DOJ brought the forfeiture complaint against the alleged proceeds of bribery, VimpelCom had entered a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in which it admitted to conspiracy to violate various provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977. See DOJ, ‘VimpelCom Limited and Unitel LLC Enter into Global Foreign Bribery Resolution of More Than $795 Million; United States Seeks $850 Million Forfeiture in Corrupt Proceeds of Bribery Scheme’ (18 February 2016).
7 K Scannell, ‘VimpelCom fined $795m in corruption case’ Financial Times (18 February 2016); E Lazareva, ‘DOJ Moves to Seize $1 billion Linked to Uzbek Telecoms Scandal’ FCPA Blog (17 August 2015) <http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2015/8/17/doj-moves-to-seize-1-billion-linked-to-uzbek-telecoms-scanda.html>.
8 I Nechepurenko, ‘Uzbekistan Reveals That Ex-Leader's Daughter Is in Custody’ New York Times (28 July 2017). See also the Executive Order 13818: Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption, 82 Federal Register 60839 (26 December 2017) adopted on the basis of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Public Law 114-328, Subtitle F, 130 Stat 2000 (2016).
9 ‘Gulnara Karimova's Spokesman Denies Corruption Charges’ AKIPress (16 July 2014).
10 US v ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ Motion Picture, Case No CV 16-16-5362 (CD Cal 20 July 2016) Verified Complaint; US v Certain Rights to and Interests in the Viceroy Hotel Group, Case No CV 17-4438 (CD Cal 15 June 2017) Verified Complaint.
11 US v Lazarenko, Case No 00-cr-0284-01 CRB (ND Cal 4 February 2010) Amended Judgment.
12 US v All Assets Held in Julius Baer, et al, Case No 1:04-cv-00798-PLF (DDC 30 June 2005) First Amended Verified Claim for Forfeiture In Rem. For a proposal of several NGOs on the disbursement of forfeited moneys for charitable purposes, see Open Society Justice Initiative, ‘Repatriating Stolen Assets: Potential Funding for Sustainable Development’ (15 July 2015).
13 See, eg, M Stephenson, ‘What's Left Out of “Left Out of the Bargain”’ Global Anticorruption Blog (18 March 2014) <https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2014/03/18/whats-left-out-of-left-out-of-the-bargain/>; M Stephenson, ‘UNCAC, Asset Recovery, and the Perils of Careless Legal Analysis’ Global Anticorruption Blog (8 May 2014) <https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2014/05/08/uncac-asset-recovery-and-the-perils-of-careless-legal-analysis/>; M Perdriel-Vaissiere, ‘Is There an Obligation under the UNCAC to Share Foreign Bribery Settlement Monies with Host Countries?’ UNCAC Coalition (5 September 2014) <http://uncaccoalition.org/en_US/is-there-an-obligation-under-the-uncac-to-share-foreign-bribery-settlement-monies-with-host-countries/>; M Stephenson, ‘A Different Kind of Quid Pro Quo: Conditional Asset Return and Sharing Anti-Bribery Settlement Proceeds’ Global Anticorruption Blog (28 June 2016) <https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2016/06/28/a-different-kind-of-quid-pro-quo-conditional-asset-return-and-sharing-anti-bribery-settlement-proceeds/>; R Messick, ‘When Should Governments Keep Stolen Assets?’ Global Anticorruption Blog (30 March 2016) <https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2016/03/30/when-should-governments-keep-stolen-assets/>.
14 R Packer, ‘Is It Lawful Under UNCAC to Attach Conditions to Asset Returns?’ Global Anticorruption Blog (25 February 2016) <https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2016/02/25/guest-post-is-it-lawful-under-uncac-to-attach-conditions-to-asset-returns/>.
15 See, eg, Zagaris, B, International White Collar Crime: Cases and Materials (2nd edn, Cambridge University Press 2015) 152–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Chaikin, D and Sharman, JC, Corruption and Money Laundering: A Symbiotic Relationship (Palgrave Macmillan 2009) 140–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brun, JP et al. , Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners (Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative 2011) 8Google Scholar.
16 Art 57(3) UNCAC.
17 As noted by Ms Fenner, the case referred to is apparently that of Belhassen Trabelsi, the son-in-law of Tunisian ex-President Ben Ali. See Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, ‘Zine El Abidine Ben Ali / Belhassen Trabelsi (Canada)’ <http://star.worldbank.org/corruption-cases/node/18601>.
18 G Fenner's remarks at Parliament of Canada, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, Evidence on Monday, 5 December 2016 at 16:15 <http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=e&Mode=1&Parl=42&Ses=1&DocId=8674987&File=0>.
19 ibid.
20 R Cassin, ‘Keppel Offshore Lands Seventh on Our Top Ten List’ FCPA Blog (26 December 2017) <http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2017/12/26/keppel-offshore-lands-seventh-on-our-top-ten-list.html>.
21 Sharman, JC, The Despot's Guide to Wealth Management: On the International Campaign against Grand Corruption (Cornell University Press 2017) 196Google Scholar.
22 For a more detailed overview of the process of asset recovery, see Brun et al. (n 15) 5–8.
23 Oduor et al. (n 4) 141–4.
24 The use of terms ‘confiscation’ and ‘forfeiture’ differs across jurisdictions and is not always entirely consistent even within one legal system: see Boucht, J, The Limits of Asset Confiscation: On the Legitimacy of Extended Appropriation of Criminal Proceeds (Hart Publishing 2017) 16–18Google Scholar; Alldridge, P, Money Laundering Law: Forfeiture, Confiscation, Civil Recovery, Criminal Laundering and Taxation of the Proceeds of Crime (Hart Publishing 2003) 45–59Google Scholar. Under art 2(1)(g) UNCAC, ‘confiscation’ means the permanent deprivation of property by order of a court or other competent authority and includes forfeiture.
25 Claman, D, ‘The Promise and Limitations of Asset Recovery under UNCAC’ in Pieth, M (ed), Recovering Stolen Assets (Peter Lang 2008) 341–2Google Scholar.
26 ibid.
27 Boucht (n 24) 1–16.
28 2225 UNTS 209.
29 FATF, International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation: The FATF Recommendations (October 2002, updated June 2017). See also Chaikin and Sharman (n 15) 18.
30 See also art 12(1) UNCTOC (couched in almost identical language) and Recommendation 4 of the FATF Recommendations (n 29). In the EU, the law on confiscation has been harmonized by Directive 2014/42/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union.
31 FCPA 15 USC section 78dd-1(b) ff. On the history of the FCPA, see M Koehler, ‘The Story of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’ (2012) 73 OhioStLJ 929.
32 See, in general, Pieth, M, Low, L and Bonucci, N (eds), The OECD Convention on Bribery: A Commentary (2nd edn, Cambridge University Press 2014)Google Scholar. On the history of the Convention, see KW Abbott and D Snidal, ‘Values and Interests: International Legalization in the Fight Against Corruption’ [2002] JLS 141; Stessens, G, ‘The International Fight Against Corruption’ (2001) 72 RIDP 891Google Scholar.
33 Marshall, G, ‘Increasing Accountability for Demand-Side Bribery in International Business Transaction’ (2014) 46 NYUJIntlLaw&Pol 1283Google Scholar; Puckett, B, ‘Clans and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Individualized Corruption Prosecution in Situations of Systemic Corruption’ (2010) 41 GeoJIntlL 815Google Scholar.
34 US v Castle, 925 F2d 831 (5th Cir 1991).
35 Examples include the confiscation by the US of the bribes paid by James Giffen in Kazakhstan (n 4) and the ongoing civil proceedings arising out of VimpelCom's and TeliaSonera's bribery in Uzbekistan (n 6).
36 Alldridge (n 24) 2.
37 Pieth, M, ‘The Wolfsberg Process’ in Muller, WH et al. (eds), Anti-Money Laundering: International Law and Practice (John Wiley & Sons 2007) 95Google Scholar.
38 See also art 6(1) UNCTOC.
39 See also art 6(2)(c) UNCTOC and FATF Recommendations (n 29), Interpretive Notes to Recommendation 3, para 5.
40 Shams, H, ‘The Fight Against Extraterritorial Corruption and the Use of Money Laundering Control’ (2001) 7 Law and Business Review of the Americas 85, 129–32Google Scholar; Stessens, G, Money Laundering: A New International Law Enforcement Model (Cambridge University Press 2000) 216–17Google Scholar.
41 See US v Approximately $84 Million on Deposit in Account No T-94025 (n 4) paras 45–54; US v All Funds Held in Account Number CH1408760000050335300 at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie Bank (n 6) paras 6–9; US v ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ (n 10) paras 103–108; US v Lazarenko, 564 F3d 1026 (9th Cir 2009).
42 R v Ibori [2013] EWCA Crim 815, [2014] 1 Cr App Rep (S) 73.
43 House of Commons, Public Accounts Committee, ‘Written Evidence from the Crown Prosecution Service, Home Office and the National Crime Agency’ (27 January 2014).
44 Report of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption on its seventh session, held in Vienna from 6 to 10 November 2017 UN Doc CAC/COSP/2017/14 (23 November 2017) 4–5.
45 Guidelines for Efficient Recovery of Stolen Assets <https://guidelines.assetrecovery.org/guidelines>.
46 For a first-hand overview, see M Perdriel-Vaissière, ‘France's Biens Mal Acquis Affair: Lessons from a Decade of Legal Struggle’ (Open Society Foundations: Legal Remedies for Grand Corruption, May 2017). See also Daniel, T and Maton, J, ‘Is the UNCAC an Effective Deterrent to Grand Corruption?’ in Horder, J and Alldridge, P (eds), Modern Bribery Law: Comparative Perspectives (Cambridge University Press 2013) 323–6Google Scholar.
47 Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v France), Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures, Order of 7 December 2016, ICJ.
48 ibid, paras 88–96.
49 ibid, paras 47–50.
50 ‘Equatorial Guinea: President's Son Convicted of Laundering Millions’ Human Rights Watch (29 October 2017).
51 S Pouget and K Hurwitz, ‘French Court Convicts Equatorial Guinean Vice President Teodorin Obiang for Laundering Grand Corruption Proceeds’ Global Anticorruption Blog (30 October 2017) <https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2017/10/30/french-court-convicts-equatorial-guinean-vice-president-teodorin-obiang-for-laundering-grand-corruption-proceeds/>.
52 ibid; ‘Equatorial Guinea: President's Son Convicted of Laundering Millions’ (n 50).
53 T Donangmaye, ‘Equatorial Guinean Vice President Convicted of Embezzlement in France’ Voice of America (28 October 2017).
54 United States Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Keeping Foreign Corruption out of the United States: Four Case Histories (Washington 2010) 18–25Google Scholar; Olaniyan, K, Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa (Hart Publishing 2014) 96–100Google Scholar; Vlasic, M and Noell, J, ‘Fighting Corruption to Improve Global Security: An Analysis of International Asset Recovery Systems’ (2010) 5 YaleJIntlAffairs 106, 117Google Scholar.
55 US v One Michael Jackson Signed Thriller Jacket et al, Case No 2:11-cv-03582-GW-SS (CD Cal 10 October 2014), Stipulation and Settlement Agreement, sections 26–34. Section 27(B) provides for a deduction of US$10.3 million in favour of the US but the US represents in section 34 that this money will be used for the benefit of the people of Equatorial Guinea ‘where practicable and consistent with law, and after deducting its actual case-related costs and expenses’.
56 K Scannell, ‘Corruption: Moving Money out of Purgatory’ Financial Times (5 July 2016).
57 Ad Hoc Committee for the Negotiation of a Convention against Corruption, ‘Interpretative Notes for the Official Records (Travaux Préparatoires) of the Negotiation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption’ UN Doc A/58/422/Add.1 (7 October 2003) para 69.
58 Oduor et al. (n 4) 73.
59 ibid 97–9.
60 Ad Hoc Committee, ‘Interpretative Notes’ (n 57), para 70.
61 Webb, P, ‘The United Nations Convention Against Corruption: Global Achievement or Missed Opportunity?’ (2005) 8 JIEL 191, 206–12Google Scholar.
62 Thomas Stelzer, Statement (11 December 2003) <http://www.un.org/webcast/merida/statements3/aust031211eng.htm>.
63 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Negotiation of a Convention against Corruption on its Second Session, Held in Vienna from 17 to 28 June 2002 UN Doc A/AC.261/7 (5 July 2002) 8.
64 The numbering changed in the course of the negotiations as some of the articles were deleted.
65 UNODC, Travaux Préparatoires of the Negotiations for the Elaboration of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (2010) 499–501, A/AC.261/IPM/4.
66 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Negotiation of a Convention against Corruption on its Sixth Session, Held in Vienna from 21 July to 8 August 2003 UN Doc A/AC.261/22 (22 August 2003) 6.
67 ibid 500–1, A/AC.261/IPM/13.
68 ibid 501–2, A/AC.261/IPM/19.
69 ibid 505, fn 10.
70 ibid 506–7, A/AC.261/11.
71 ibid 507.
72 ibid 512–13, A/AC.261/L.229.
73 ibid 508, fn 12.
74 ibid 508, fn 17.
75 Vlassis, D and Gottwald, D, ‘Implementing the Asset Recovery Provisions of the UNCAC’ in Pieth, M (ed), Recovering Stolen Assets (Peter Lang 2008) 367Google Scholar.
76 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Negotiation of a Convention against Corruption on its Second Session (n 63) 7.
77 Ivory, RD, Corruption, Asset Recovery, and the Protection of Property in Public International Law: The Human Rights of Bad Guys (Cambridge University Press 2014)Google Scholar.
78 Ad Hoc Committee, ‘Interpretative Notes’ (n 57) para 48.
79 Republic of Haiti v Duvalier [1989] 2 WLR 261.
80 Vischer, F, ‘General Course on Private International Law’ (1992) 232 Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International 9, 186–7Google Scholar; L Collins, ‘Provisional and Protective Measures in International Litigation’ (234) Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International 9, 155–6.
81 Hinterseer, K, Criminal Finance: The Political Economy of Money Laundering in a Comparative Legal Context (Kluwer Law International 2002) 66Google Scholar.
82 Vlasic, M and Cooper, G, ‘Beyond the Duvalier Legacy: What New “Arab Spring” Governments Can Learn from Haiti and the Benefits of Stolen Asset Recovery’ (2011) 10(1) Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights 19, 22Google Scholar.
83 Federal Act on the Restitution of Assets illicitly obtained by Politically Exposed Persons of 1 October 2010. An unofficial English translation is at <https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified-compilation/20100418/201102010000/196.1.pdf>. The original text is available at <https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/20100418/index.html>.
84 Art 2.
85 Arts 8–9.
86 Sharman (n 21) 109; Neue Zürcher Zeitung, ‘Nationalrat schwächt «Lex Ben Ali» ab’ (10 June 2015).
87 The original text is available at <https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/20131214/index.html>.
88 Arts XV and XIV and arts 16, 18 and 19 respectively.
89 Art 3(1).
90 FATF, Best Practices on Confiscation (Recommendations 4 and 38) and a Framework for Ongoing Work on Asset Recovery (October 2012) para 5; Report of the 7th Conference of the UNCAC States Parties (n 44) 5.
91 Art 2 of the Draft Model Bilateral Agreement on Disposal of Confiscated Proceeds of Crime (Proposal submitted by the US, 26–28 January 2005) <http://www.unodc.org/pdf/crime/ieg_crime_2005-01-26_draft_model_agr_01.pdf>.
92 ECOSOC Resolution 2005/14: Model bilateral Agreement on the Sharing of Confiscated Proceeds of Crime or Property Covered by the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 (22 July 2005).
93 Global Affairs Canada, Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the People's Republic of China Regarding Sharing and Return of Forfeited Assets <http://www.treaty-accord.gc.ca/details.aspx?id=105505>.
94 Z Dongmiao, ‘Full Text: Joint Communiqué of the 2nd Canada-China High-level National Security and Rule of Law Dialogue’ XinhuaNet (23 June 2017).
95 B Lang, ‘Engaging China in the Fight against Transnational Bribery: “Operation Skynet” as a New Opportunity for OECD countries’ (OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum 2017) <https://www.oecd.org/cleangovbiz/Integrity-Forum-2017-Lang-China-transnational-bribery.pdf>.
96 US Department of State, ‘Treaties in Force’ (1 January 2017) <https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/273494.pdf> 82.
97 For an overview of the pronouncements of English courts to that effect, see Alldridge (n 24) 45–8.
98 Ivory (n 77) 221; Chaikin and Sharman (n 15) 18.
99 Sharman (n 21) 196.
100 ibid 194–9; D Batty, ‘Make Profit Motive an Ally in Corruption Fight, Says Offshore Expert’ The Guardian (2 June 2016).
101 Art 57(3)(c) UNCAC.
102 See Koehler, ‘The FCPA Story’ (n 31) 934–5.
103 Bixby, M, ‘The Lion Awakens: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – 1977 to 2010’ (2010) 12 SanDiegoIntlLJ 89, 104–5Google Scholar.
104 Zarate, J, Treasury's War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare (Public Affairs 2013) 198–9Google Scholar. For an exposition of the corruption–terrorism nexus, see Chayes, S, Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security (WW Norton & Co 2015)Google Scholar.
105 Cassin (n 20).
106 M Koehler, ‘“Totally” Milking the FCPA Cash Cow?’ FCPA Professor (3 June 2013) <http://fcpaprofessor.com/totally-milking-the-fcpa-cash-cow/>; Koehler, M, The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a New Era (Edward Elgar Publishing 2014) 238Google Scholar.
107 Stephenson, ‘What's Left Out of “Left Out of the Bargain”’ (n 13).
108 SFO v Rolls Royce Plc QB (17 January 2017). This is the third UK DPA after they were introduced by Schedule 17 to the Crime and Courts Act 2013. The first one was SFO v Standard Bank Plc HC (30 November 2015). The identity of the company involved in the second DPA is currently undisclosed.
109 OECD, Foreign Bribery Report: An Analysis of the Crime of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials (2004) 31.
110 Oduor et al. (n 4) 53–5.
111 E Shirbon, ‘‘‘In It until You Die”: Convicted Nigerian Politician Signals Comeback’ Reuters (31 January 2017).
112 A comparison between corruption-related asset recovery and the liquidator's efforts to recoup the property of a bankrupt company is made in Daniel, T and Maton, J, ‘Civil Proceedings to Recover Corruptly Acquired Assets of Public Officials’ in Pieth, M (ed), Recovering Stolen Assets (Peter Lang 2008) 253Google Scholar.
113 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Comprehensive Study on the Negative Impact of the Non-Repatriation of Funds of Illicit Origin to the Countries of Origin on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, in Particular Economic, Social and Cultural Rights UN Doc A/HRC/19/42 (14 December 2011); Working Paper of the Special Rapporteur, Ms Christy Mbonu, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/18 (14 May 2003); Preliminary Report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms Christy Mbonu, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/23 (7 July 2004); Progress Report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms Christy Mbonu, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/18 (22 June 2005); and Second Progress Report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms Christy Mbonu, A/HRC/11/CRP.1 (18 May 2009).
114 Rose, C, ‘The Application of Human Rights Law to Private Sector Complicity in Governmental Corruption’ (2011) 24 LJIL 715Google Scholar; De Beco, G, ‘Monitoring Corruption from a Human Rights Perspective’ (2011) 15(7) IJHR 1107Google Scholar; Boersma, M and Nelen, H (eds), Corruption & Human Rights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Intersentia 2010)Google Scholar; Gathii, J, ‘Defining the Relationship between Human Rights and Corruption’ (2009) 31 UPaJIntlL 125Google Scholar; Pearson, Z, ‘An International Human Rights Approach to Corruption’ in Larmour, P and Wolanin, N (eds), Corruption and Anti-Corruption (Asia Pacific Press 2001)Google Scholar. For a critical perspective, see Rose, C, ‘The Limitations of a Human Rights Approach to Corruption’ (2016) 65(2) ICLQ 405CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
115 M Stephenson, ‘Standing Doctrine and Anticorruption Litigation: A Survey’ (Open Society Foundations: Legal Remedies for Grand Corruption, January 2016). A paper prepared by the UNODC in October 2017 discussed compensation to victims of corruption in principle but did not examine how victims are or should be defined. See UNODC, Effective Management and Disposal of Seized and Confiscated Assets (October 2017) 38–41.
116 M Vlasic, ‘A President's Legal Legacy: Stolen Asset Recovery and the Rule of Law for All’ Diplomatic Courier (30 January 2013).
117 That being said, a note prepared in 2017 by the Secretariat of the Conference of UNCAC States Parties mentions criminal complaints by NGOs in the context of a discussion of the concept of victims of corruption. See Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, ‘Good Practices in Identifying the Victims of Corruption and Parameters for Their Compensation: Note by the Secretariat’ UN Doc CAC/COSP/2017/11 (31 August 2017) 7.
118 ibid 5.
119 Report of the 7th Conference of the UNCAC States Parties (n 44) 8.
120 R Messick, ‘Civil Society on Returning Stolen Assets to Highly Corrupt Governments’ Global Anticorruption Blog (15 February 2017) <https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2017/02/15/to-experts-attending-february-14-16-meeting-on-managing-disposing-of-stolen-assets/>. The UNCAC Coalition further made several statements on the subject during the 2017 Conference of UNCAC States Parties. See ‘Recovery of Damages and Compensation for Victims of Corruption: UNCAC Coalition statement to the 7th Conference of States Parties in Vienna’ UN Doc CAC/COSP/2017/NGO/7 (20 October 2017); ‘Towards a Comprehensive, Effective, Transparent and Accountable Implementation of UNCAC Chapter V: UNCAC Coalition statement to the 7th Conference of States Parties in Vienna’ UN Doc CAC/COSP/2017/NGO/2 (20 October 2017).
121 Global Forum on Asset Recovery Communiqué (4–6 December 2017).