On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption

Developing countries lose an estimated US$20–40 billion each year through bribery, misappropriation of funds, and other corrupt practices. Often, the most visible manifestation of corruption is the enrichment of a corrupt public official. Despite such visibility, prosecuting corruption can be very p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Muzila, Lindy, Morales, Michelle, Mathias, Marianne, Berger, Tammar
Format:	Publication
Language:	en_US
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2013
Subjects:	Asset recovery Corruption Financial disclosure Ill-gotten gains Illicit Enrichment Mutual legal assistance (MLA) StAR UNCAC lifestyle checks
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13090

id	okr-10986-13090
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-130902021-06-08T12:08:57Z On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption Muzila, Lindy Morales, Michelle Mathias, Marianne Berger, Tammar Asset recovery Corruption Financial disclosure Ill-gotten gains Illicit Enrichment Mutual legal assistance (MLA) StAR UNCAC lifestyle checks Developing countries lose an estimated US$20–40 billion each year through bribery, misappropriation of funds, and other corrupt practices. Often, the most visible manifestation of corruption is the enrichment of a corrupt public official. Despite such visibility, prosecuting corruption can be very problematic, particularly when it requires proving the offer or acceptance of a bribe. Even when the corruption is established in a court of law, linking the proceeds of the crime to the offense in order to recover assets is a complex endeavor. In response, some countries looking to strengthen their overall arsenal against corruption have criminalized illicit enrichment. In its Article 20, the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) recommends, but does not mandate, States Parties to adopt illicit enrichment as a criminal offense, defining the same as an intentional and “significant increase in the assets of a public official that he or she cannot reasonably explain in relation to his or her lawful income.” The illicit enrichment offense has spurred significant debates involving due processes of law. Others question how jurisdictions are actually using the offense. Finally, many jurisdictions that serve as financial centers do not recognize illicit enrichment as an offense, so tracing and recovering assets through mutual legal assistance is further complicated in illicit enrichment prosecutions. Against this background, this study provides policy makers, prosecutors, and other practitioners with a better understanding of the features of illicit enrichment. It draws on the preparatory work of international conventions, reviews of existing domestic provisions, and the jurisprudence on illicit enrichment. It is the StAR Initiative’s hope that the study will inform the work of decision makers considering adopting an illicit enrichment offense, and assist those implementing illicit enrichment to do so in a way that contributes to effective prosecution, confiscation, and asset recovery. 2013-04-08T21:03:00Z 2013-04-08T21:03:00Z 2012 978-0-8213-9454-0 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13090 en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research :: Publication
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	Asset recovery Corruption Financial disclosure Ill-gotten gains Illicit Enrichment Mutual legal assistance (MLA) StAR UNCAC lifestyle checks
spellingShingle	Asset recovery Corruption Financial disclosure Ill-gotten gains Illicit Enrichment Mutual legal assistance (MLA) StAR UNCAC lifestyle checks Muzila, Lindy Morales, Michelle Mathias, Marianne Berger, Tammar On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption
description	Developing countries lose an estimated US$20–40 billion each year through bribery, misappropriation of funds, and other corrupt practices. Often, the most visible manifestation of corruption is the enrichment of a corrupt public official. Despite such visibility, prosecuting corruption can be very problematic, particularly when it requires proving the offer or acceptance of a bribe. Even when the corruption is established in a court of law, linking the proceeds of the crime to the offense in order to recover assets is a complex endeavor. In response, some countries looking to strengthen their overall arsenal against corruption have criminalized illicit enrichment. In its Article 20, the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) recommends, but does not mandate, States Parties to adopt illicit enrichment as a criminal offense, defining the same as an intentional and “significant increase in the assets of a public official that he or she cannot reasonably explain in relation to his or her lawful income.” The illicit enrichment offense has spurred significant debates involving due processes of law. Others question how jurisdictions are actually using the offense. Finally, many jurisdictions that serve as financial centers do not recognize illicit enrichment as an offense, so tracing and recovering assets through mutual legal assistance is further complicated in illicit enrichment prosecutions. Against this background, this study provides policy makers, prosecutors, and other practitioners with a better understanding of the features of illicit enrichment. It draws on the preparatory work of international conventions, reviews of existing domestic provisions, and the jurisprudence on illicit enrichment. It is the StAR Initiative’s hope that the study will inform the work of decision makers considering adopting an illicit enrichment offense, and assist those implementing illicit enrichment to do so in a way that contributes to effective prosecution, confiscation, and asset recovery.
format	Publications & Research :: Publication
author	Muzila, Lindy Morales, Michelle Mathias, Marianne Berger, Tammar
author_facet	Muzila, Lindy Morales, Michelle Mathias, Marianne Berger, Tammar
author_sort	Muzila, Lindy
title	On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption
title_short	On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption
title_full	On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption
title_fullStr	On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption
title_full_unstemmed	On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption
title_sort	on the take : criminalizing illicit enrichment to fight corruption
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2013
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13090
_version_	1764422439411908608

On the Take : Criminalizing Illicit Enrichment to Fight Corruption

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