UN marks anti-corruption day with plan to recover stolen funds for Nigeria, Kenya
On the first anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the UN anti-crime office said it would help two developing countries recover whatever amounts were exported of the nearly $11 billion looted from both governments.
On the first anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the UN anti-crime office said it would help two developing countries recover whatever amounts were exported of the nearly $11 billion looted from both governments.
In the 1990s, corrupt local officials stole $7.7 billion from oil-rich Nigeria, of which at least $2.2 was exported, and more than $3 billion from Kenya, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Corruption and the transfer of illicit funds have been a major factor in the flight of capital from Africa, with more than $400 billion having been stolen and hidden in foreign countries and around $100 billion of the total to have come from Nigeria alone, UNODC has estimated.
"The recovery of stolen assets is one of the most promising and concrete aspects of the fight against corruption," UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa told journalists at the UN complex in Vienna, Austria, on what is also the first International Anti-Corruption Day, marking the Convention's signing conference in Mérida, Mexico.
So far 114 countries have signed the Convention and 13 have ratified it. It will enter into force when 30 countries have amended their laws according to its requirements. UNODC offers technical assistance for upgrading national legal systems.
"Even before the Convention enters into force, it allows us to help countries to retrieve monies plundered from their national treasuries. These nations urgently need funds for development," Mr. Costa, flanked by Kenyan Ambassador Julius Kiplagat Kandie and Nigerian Ambassador Biodun Owoseni, said.
The Convention binds UN Member States to criminalize corrupt practices, including money laundering, help one another determine money trails, seize and freeze illicit funds, deny safe haven to corrupt officials, and, as a "fundamental principle," return stolen funds to their rightful owners.
UNODC said it would assess the two countries' legal and institutional frameworks and recommend measures to facilitate the return of any recovered assets.