[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 118 (Friday, July 25, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ENDING GLOBAL CORRUPTION

                                  _____
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 25, 2014

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues an article by Judge Mark L. Wolf in the July 23rd Washington 
Post. Entitled ``Ending Global Corruption,'' the article describes the 
adverse effect that grand corruption by high officials has not just on 
matters of governance, but on the basic human rights of a nation's 
citizens Judge Wolf proposes establishing an international court on 
corruption as a possible solution. This is a proposal that merits our 
close attention and investigation. We must find better means to address 
massive corruption, and the impunity and human rights abuses required 
to sustain it. I submit the article in its entirety.

                        Ending Global Corruption

                           (By Mark L. Wolf)

       It was hard to miss Daria at the World Forum on Governance 
     in Prague in April. The 28-year-old lawyer and mother from 
     Kiev was wearing a ``Ukraine: [expletive] Corruption'' T-
     shirt. Such a frank message was understandable. Indignation 
     at ``grand corruption''--the abuse of public office for 
     personal profit by a nation's leaders--inspired Daria and 
     many others to risk their lives in the Maidan protests that 
     toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February.
       In too many nations, corruption is endemic at the highest 
     levels of government. Then-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan 
     was correct in characterizing such behavior as an ``insidious 
     plague'' in his 2003 statement upon the adoption of the U.N. 
     Convention Against Corruption.
       Corruption is extraordinarily costly, consuming more than 5 
     percent of the global gross domestic product. Developing 
     regions lose more than 10 times in illicit financial flows 
     than what they receive in foreign aid. Russia's corruption-
     fueled ``shadow economy'' makes up an estimated 44 percent of 
     its GDP.
       Corrupt governments also often provide havens for 
     international criminals, including drug lords in Mexico and 
     terrorists in countries such as Afghanistan and Yemen.
       Nevertheless, the most serious consequence of grand 
     corruption is that it destroys democracy and devastates the 
     human rights that governments are constituted to protect. 
     Countries recognized as among the world's most corrupt--
     including Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and Syria--
     repeatedly violate the human rights of their citizens. The 
     poor and powerless are victims of corrupt regimes throughout 
     the world.
       As Ukraine and Egypt exemplify, opposition to grand 
     corruption is destabilizing many countries and, indeed, the 
     world. International efforts to combat grand corruption have 
     obviously been inadequate. Similar circumstances concerning 
     the evils of genocide and other intolerable human rights 
     abuses led to the creation of the International Criminal 
     Court (ICC) in 2002. An International Anti-Corruption Court 
     (IACC) is now equally necessary.
       Grand corruption depends on the culture of impunity that 
     exists in many nations. An IACC would provide an alternative 
     and effective forum for the enforcement of the laws 
     criminalizing grand corruption that exist in virtually every 
     country, while giving force to the requirements of treaties 
     such as the U.N. Convention Against Corruption and the 
     obligations of organizations such as the World Trade 
     Organization. Like the ICC, an IACC would operate on the 
     principle of complementarity, meaning that only officials 
     from those countries unable or unwilling to prosecute grand 
     corruption properly would be subject to prosecution. This 
     would give many nations a significant incentive to strengthen 
     and demonstrate their capacity to combat grand corruption.
       An IACC would be comparable to the approach that has served 
     the United States well. In the United States, we do not 
     depend on elected state prosecutors to address corruption by 
     state and local officials because such prosecutors are often 
     part of the political establishment they would be called upon 
     to police and, in any event, generally lack the necessary 
     legal authority and resources. Instead, we rely primarily on 
     federal investigators, prosecutors and courts to deal with 
     corrupt state and local officials.
       Similarly, an IACC would employ an elite corps of 
     investigators expert at unraveling complex financial 
     transactions and prosecutors experienced in preparing and 
     presenting complicated cases. It would also include 
     experienced, impartial international judges.
       The IACC's impact would be enhanced if, like federal courts 
     in the United States, it were also empowered to hear civil 
     fraud and corruption cases. An international 
     ``whistleblower'' statute enforceable at the IACC would 
     increase the resources that would be devoted to combating 
     fraud and corruption and enhance the potential for 
     restitution for victims.
       Notably, an IACC should have strong support from the United 
     States. U.S. companies generally behave ethically and, in 
     addition, are significantly deterred from paying bribes by 
     the threat of prosecution for violating the Foreign Corrupt 
     Practices Act. They would benefit from the more level playing 
     field an IACC would create.
       Finally, an IACC would provide the potential for more 
     effective prosecution and punishment of corrupt officials who 
     commonly abuse human rights. Fraud, corruption and associated 
     money laundering can often be proved based on documentary 
     evidence, which is easier to acquire than eyewitness 
     testimony of victims of human rights abuses, who are unlikely 
     to have knowledge of the criminal responsibility of their 
     nation's leaders.
       There are practical impediments to establishing an 
     International Anti-Corruption Court and principled concerns 
     to be addressed. But the status quo is intolerable. An IACC 
     could erode the widespread culture of impunity, contribute to 
     creating conditions conducive to the democratic election of 
     honest officials in countries with a history of grand 
     corruption and honor the courageous efforts of the many 
     people, like Daria, who are exposing and opposing corruption 
     at great personal peril.

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