Anti-Corruption Action Plan Announced at Recent G20 Summit
After the G20 Summit in Korea on November 11-12, 2010, the White House issued a fact sheet on the G20’s comprehensive Action Plan to strengthen anti-corruption efforts worldwide.
Under the Action Plan, G-20 Leaders agreed to:
- accede or ratify and effectively implement the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and promote a transparent and inclusive review process;
- adopt and enforce laws against the bribery of foreign public officials;
- prevent access of corrupt officials to the global financial system;
- consider a cooperative framework for the denial of entry to corrupt officials, extradition, and asset recovery;
- protect whistleblowers; and
- safeguard anticorruption bodies.
Highlights of U.S. Actions to Combat Corruption
The White House fact sheet also provides highlights on the Administration’s fight against corruption, including:
- Increased enforcement capacity to pursue bribery of officials overseas, including enhanced enforcement efforts of the Fraud Section at the Department of Justice and the creation of a dedicated unit at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Filing 105 enforcement actions involving bribery of foreign officials overseas since early 2009, and collecting over $2 billion in criminal and civil penalties.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 11/04/10 news, 10110412, for BP summary of a DOJ official’s statements that 2010 could be a record year for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement.)
- Creation and initiation of a new peer review mechanism to review the efforts of 147 countries in implementing UNCAC, and set an example to other countries by being one of the first countries to be reviewed.
- Continued U.S. leadership in the OECD Working Group on Bribery including by: ensuring greater accountability through published statistics on investigations and prosecutions; negotiating a new OECD Recommendation to enhance the implementation and enforcement of the Antibribery Convention; developing good practice guidance to help companies strengthen compliance programs to prevent and detect bribery; and supporting the third phase of monitoring on enforcement of transnational bribery laws.
- Increased efforts in business education and awareness including outreach to potential importers and investors in developing countries and support for ethics initiatives.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 11/15/10 news, 10111504, for BP summary on the availability of G20 fact sheets.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 11/17/10 news, 10111750, for BP summary of remarks by an Assistant U.S. Attorney regarding the new era of FCPA enforcement.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 11/08/10 news, 10110809, for BP summary of the Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform report proposing amendments to the FCPA.)
(G20 fact sheet, dated 11/12/10)