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Africa: Stolen Wealth
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Apr 14, 2006 (060414)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"Corruption is bleeding Africa to death and the cost is borne by
the poor. ... Much of the money is banked in Britain or our
overseas territories and dependencies. ... We want our government
to get tough on corruption." - Hugh Bayley, MP, Chair of the Africa
All Party Parliamentary Group
The Africa All Party Parliamentary Group report, "The Other Side of
the Coin: The Role of the UK in Corruption in Africa," was released
on March 29. Striking a similar theme, representatives of
Transparency International's African chapters released the "Nairobi
Declaration" on April 7, calling for international action to
support the recovery and repatriation of Africa's stolen wealth.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains two press releases from
Transparency International on recovery of Africa's stolen wealth,
and a press release from the Africa All Party Parliamentary Group
in the United Kingdom recommending new measures to block UK
complicity in corruption in Africa.
For more information see
http://www.transparency.org
and
http://www.africaappg.org.uk
Previous AfricaFocus Bulletins dealing with corruption include
Kenya: Githongo Report
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/git0602.php
UK/Africa: The Damage We Do
http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/ras0507.php
Kenya: Corruption Fight Stalling
http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/ken0502.php
USA/Africa: Oil and Transparency
http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/eq0407.php
Africa: Oil and Transparency
http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/oil0401.php
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++++++++
The Nairobi Declaration on International Obligations and on the
Recovery and Repatriation of Africa's Stolen Wealth
Nairobi. 7 April 2006
Press Release
For more information
Transparency International, Berlin, Germany
http://www.transparency.org
Media Contacts: Sarah Tyler
Tel: +49-30-3438 2019/45 Fax: +49-30-3470 3912
[email protected]
We, the Representatives of Transparency International in 7
African Countries, Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, on 6-7 April 2006,
Affirming the fundamental human right to development of all
African peoples;
Aware of the negative role that corruption has played in
undermining Africa's fragile democracies and hindering her
people's efforts to attain sustainable development;
Noting the emergence of recent international instruments such as
the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the African
Union Convention for the Combating of and Prevention of
Corruption; and other interventions aimed at creating a just
global socio- economic order, including global debt cancellation
campaigns, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative;
Noting that despite some asset recovery successes several African
countries are experiencing difficulties in obtaining appropriate
mutual legal assistance in their endeavor to trace, seize,
recover and repatriate assets and monies illegally appropriated
and transferred abroad by their nationals and other
collaborators;
Aware that well over US$ 140 billion has over the decades been
illegally and corruptly appropriated from Africa, by politicians,
soldiers, businesspersons and other leaders, and kept abroad in
form of cash, stocks and bonds, real estate and other assets;
Observing the commitments made by the G8 and other commissions on
Africa;
Persuaded that, with the co-operation of all relevant actors,
Africa's stolen wealth is identifiable, traceable and potentially
recoverable;
Recalling the Nyanga Declaration of March 2001 by 11 Transparency
International African Chapters. Hereby Declare
- That it is imperative that African governments engender and
demonstrate the political will to fight corruption in a
meaningful way.
- That corruption remains one of the primary hindrances to
development in Africa. Thus, for as long as governments continue
to pay mere lip service to anti-corruption reform, such
development and, particularly, the eradication of poverty as
elaborated by the Millennium Development Goals will remain
unattainable.
- That African governments and the international community
should as a matter of priority, ensure the RATIFICATION,
DOMESTICATION and IMPLEMENTATION of the provisions of the United
Nations Convention Against Corruption, the African Union
Convention on the Combating and Prevention of Corruption, and the
OECD Convention Against the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials.
- That it is not only illegal but BLATANTLY IMMORAL that so much
wealth stolen from Africa is allowed to circulate freely in the
economies of some of the world's wealthiest nations in Europe,
the Americas, the Middle East and diverse offshore havens.
- That while the call for the cancellation of African debt is
noble and deserving of full support, it is inherently
inconsistent to call for the cancellation of Africa's debts while
much of the money originally lent, is ODIOUS, and remains
illegally invested or banked in privately held accounts abroad.
- That it is unconscionable that individuals and corporations
who are nationals of the OECD and the G 8 are enjoying measures
of IMPUNITY despite their corrupt practices in Africa.
- That African governments and the international community
should, as a matter of priority, expedite the tracing, recovery
and repatriation of wealth stolen from African countries and
transferred abroad, including sealing of all known loopholes, and
requiring international cooperation from non-State actors such as
corporations and financial institutions where there is reasonable
cause to suspect illegal activity, and mandatory liquidation and
repatriation of assets known to have been corruptly acquired.
- That all international initiatives aimed at the promulgation
of a more just global socio-economic order, including campaigns
for debt cancellation, should include an explicit focus on
recovering and repatriating assets stolen from developing
countries as a necessary condition to the realization of a more
just and fair global community.
- That all countries should tighten their banking laws to ensure
that moneys illicitly appropriated from African treasuries are
not granted safe havens in banks or non-bank financial
institutions operating in those countries.
- That African representatives of Transparency International
will lobby their governments for legislative reform to seal all
known loopholes that allow the illegal appropriation of public
money from their treasuries and to punish the culprits, as well
as to create frameworks for receiving recovered and repatriated
moneys.
- That TI African National Chapters meeting in Nairobi express
their solidarity with anti-corruption activists and National
Chapters that operate in difficult circumstances wherever they
are.
Adopted at Nairobi Kenya, this 7th day of April 2006.
By:
Audrey Gadzekpo, Ghana
Ahmed Abdalla, Kenya
Maman Wada, Niger
Mouhamadou Mbodj, S�n�gal
George Egaddu, Uganda
Rueben Lifuka, Zambia
Goodwill Shana, Zimbabwe
Recovering Africa's stolen money
West Africans gather to map out campaign strategy for adopting
anti-corruption conventions to end the "main drain" on
development
Berlin, Accra, 22 March 2006
Anti-corruption treaties are the key to getting back monies
stolen from African countries, such as an estimated $10 billion
embezzled by former presidents Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and
Sanni Abacha in Nigeria, according to a high-level West Africa
Regional workshop organised by Transparency International (TI),
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the South
African Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
The African Union and United Nations anti-corruption conventions
can protect an African nation's assets from theft by
"kleptocrats" only if West African governments move quicker to
ratify and implement them, concluded the workshop, which ended
today. Africa's future development depends on ending the "main
drain" of capital siphoned off to European and other foreign
banks.
The workshop held in Accra from 20 - 21 March, brought together
about 90 parliamentarians, civil society organisations and media
representatives from 13 West African nations, including TI
chapters from eight West African countries.
"Corruption is economically, politically and socially undermining
countries' development in Africa. These anti- corruption
conventions offer a real opportunity to check corruption, but for
them to be effective sufficient political traction must exist to
implement the necessary anti-corruption policies and to bestow
anti-corruption bodies with the authority and independence they
need," said Akere Muna, founder of Transparency International's
chapter in Cameroon and Vice Chair of Transparency
International's Board of Directors.
"The effective implementation and monitoring of these conventions
will make it harder for the corrupt to circumvent rules designed
to ensure fairness and efficiency, and make it easier to punish
them for illicitly enriching themselves at the expense of the
people," he added.
The forum examined the two key anti-corruption conventions, the
African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption
and Related Offences (AU Convention) and the United Nations
Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Wide-ranging legislative
and institutional changes may be required for the adoption of the
two conventions - thus putting into place the protective measures
and effective sanctions against corruption. Both the AU
Convention and the UNCAC include preventive and punitive measures
as well as provision for international cooperation
The workshop:
- Called for a campaign to mobilise the public on corruption,
including a campaign to inform the public about the Conventions.
- Stressed the need for technical assistance to West African
governments to assist them in the implementation of the
Conventions.
- Concluded that follow-up reviews of country progress on
implementation are key to the success of the Conventions.
National groups also presented action plans for advocacy work to
promote ratification and implementation of the conventions in
their countries. Anti-corruption conventions in Africa provide an
international framework for governments and citizens in Africa to
refer to in making efforts to strengthen their governance
institutions and to tackle the problem of corruption. To date the
AU Convention has been ratified by 12 and the UN Convention by 19
African countries.
Africa All Party Parliamentary Group
Press Release: 29th March 2006
MPs Tell Government to Get Tough on Corruption
For more information and the full text of this and other reports:
http://www.africaappg.org.uk
A cross party group of MPs and peers is calling for the
government to:
- Rigorously enforce existing laws against international bribery,
corruption and money laundering;
- Bring a tough new anti-corruption bill to parliament before the
end of the year
- Appoint an anti-corruption champion to drive policy coherence
across Whitehall and in Crown Dependencies and Overseas
Territories
Today (Wednesday the 29th of March 2006) the Africa All Party
Parliamentary Group publishes its third report "The Other Side of
the Coin: The Role of the UK in Corruption in Africa"
Chair of the Group, Hugh Bayley MP says:
"Corruption is bleeding Africa to death and the cost is borne by
the poor. The African Union calculate that $148 billion a year is
corruptly spirited out of the continent. This is six times what
Africa receives in aid.
Much of the money is banked in Britain or our overseas
territories and dependencies and sometimes British citizens or
companies are involved in corrupt deals. We want our government
to get tough on corruption, bring a tough new anti-corruption
bill to parliament and bring culprits to court."
KY Amoako, former Executive Secretary to the UN Economic
Commission for Africa and a member of the Tony Blair chaired
Commission for Africa says: "This study has proposed very bold
actions that, effectively implemented will make a significant
contribution to the fight against corruption - the greatest
impediment to investments in Africa. I hope it can inspire other
OECD countries to examine steps that their governments and
citizens can take to tackle the supply side of corruption. While
it is the primary responsibility of national governments,
regional and civil society in Africa to root out and punish the
corruption that damages the continent so badly, it is refreshing
and encouraging to see such a candid look at the other side of
the coin." ... The Chairman's Summary and Recommendations of the
report follow.
1. Chairman's Summary
The Africa APPG decided to carry out an inquiry into corruption
and money laundering for four reasons. Firstly, the scale, extent
and impact of corruption and related capital flight undoubtedly
present a critical obstacle to development in Africa. Secondly,
our 2005 report "The UK and Africa in 2005: How Joined up is
Whitehall?" identified corruption and money laundering as areas
which require better policy coherence. Thirdly, the UK fully
endorsed the report of the Commission for Africa which made a
number of recommendations on how western governments can support
Africa's battle against corruption. The UK also chaired the 2005
G8 Summit which committed G8 countries to take action on this
issue. Finally, the issues of corruption and money laundering
were raised with us in consultations with members of the African
Diaspora living in the UK.
"The Other Side of the Coin" looks at the responsibility of the
UK to combat corruption and money laundering. We recognise the
extent of the problem globally, but we focus on Africa because
this is of special interest to the Africa APPG. We examine what
the UK can do to support African countries to tackle corruption,
because UK policy is our area of potential influence. We do not
excuse corrupt rulers from their ultimate culpability for
stealing from their people.
This report is by no means exhaustive but we identify three areas
where the UK can and should contribute to the fight against
corruption in Africa:
- By tackling the supply side of corruption; bribe payments and
mechanisms in international trade and credit that facilitate
corruption.
- By tackling the laundering of the proceeds of corruption.
- By safeguarding aid to ensure it does not become caught up in
corruption or inadvertently support corrupt leaders, but is used
to fight the problem.
Our detailed recommendations follow as Section 2 of this report.
All are important if the UK is to address this issue
comprehensively and across all departments. In particular we wish
to stress the need for the UK government to:
- Rigorously enforce existing laws and sanctions against
international bribery, corruption and money laundering.
- Bring to Parliament before the end of 2006 a new
Anti-Corruption Bill which addresses the concerns raised about
the 2003 draft Bill by the Joint Parliamentary Committee and the
OECD Phase Two Review.
- Fully implement the Third EU Money Laundering Directive as
soon as possible and well before the 2007 deadline.
- Ensure that Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories deal
with corruption and money laundering as robustly as the UK.
- Report to Parliament annually on international development
spending with a particular focus on transparency, effectiveness
and details of support for anti-corruption priorities and
strategies.
- Appoint an Anti-Corruption champion for a two year period to
coordinate policy coherence and implementation across Whitehall
and to work with devolved executives, Crown Dependencies,
Overseas Territories and international partners.
Hugh Bayley MP Chairman The Africa All Party Parliamentary Group
Further recommendations
[see full report available at
http://www.africaappg.org.uk/Documents.htm]
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues,
with a particular focus on U.S. and international policies.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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