Corporate Crime – Africa Update

On 26 November 2021, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Council adopted the 2021 Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (the 2021 Recommendation).

The OECD is an intergovernmental economic organisation that has long focussed on standardising global efforts to fight corruption. In 1997, it introduced the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (the OECD Convention). A legally binding international agreement, signatories to the OECD Convention agreed to implement standards to criminalise bribery of foreign public officials. 44 countries have adopted the Convention, including South Africa.

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The South African Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State (“the Commission” or “the Zondo Commission”) was established on 23 January 2018 pursuant to the remedial action taken by South Africa’s former Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela (“Adv Madonsela”) in her “State of Capture” report dated 14 October 2016.

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Sub-Saharan Africa has again been ranked as the lowest scoring region on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index for 2021 (the "Index").

Produced yearly by international anti-corruption organisation Transparency International, the Index ranks 180 countries across the globe by measuring how corrupt each country's public sector is perceived to be. The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). A score of less than 50 indicates that a country has serious corruption problems. The Index is used by compliance professionals worldwide as a reference tool for risk assessments, due diligence and anti-corruption training purposes.

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On 6 December 2021 the U.S Government issued its first Strategy on Countering Corruption (the Strategy) outlining how the US will prevent corruption through its work with foreign governments and other agencies. The Strategy was published after a National Security Study Memorandum review identified anti-corruption as a core national security interest for the U.S.

The Strategy highlights the global dimensions of corruption, how international financial systems can be abused to hide assets and money-launder proceeds of crime, and the detrimental effect corruption has on the rule-of-law, democracy and the protection of a fair and equitable society for U.S citizens.

The Fact Sheet: U.S Strategy on Countering Corruption published to accompany the Strategy states that these announcements mark 'a new chapter' in U.S efforts to prevent and limit corruption. 

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Global corruption is its own economy: so-called illicit financial flows run into billions if not trillions of dollars annually, in bribes, stolen public funds and diverted foreign aid and foreign direct investment, among other common forms of corruption. People living in developing and transition countries suffer corruption's worst effects, with the loss of investment in public health killing an estimated 140,000 children every year. 

Illicit financial flows usually end up hidden overseas, away from their country of origin. The UN Convention against Corruption ("UNCAC") Coalition calls the UK "a safe haven for corrupt assets stolen around the world". What is the UK doing to identify and confiscate such assets, and what does it do with such assets that it does confiscate? What conditions must be met before confiscated assets can be repatriated to their country of origin? This article briefly outlines the international legal framework for repatriation, and discusses the steps taken by the UK to facilitate the repatriation of confiscated assets to their countries of origin, the existing barriers to repatriation, and what improvements the UK may make to restore more confiscated assets to their countries of origin.

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This article presents the legal regime on the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Ghana, following the passage of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798) (‘ADRA’), how that differs from the mechanism for enforcing foreign judgments, and the implications for businesses flowing from the introduction of the current regime.

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