Sec. 16002. Findings; sense of Congress
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Congress finds the following: The Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), a World Bank and United Nations anti-money-laundering effort, estimates that between $20 billion to $40 billion has been lost to developing countries annually through corruption. In 2014, more than $480 million in corruption proceeds hidden in bank accounts around the world by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his co-conspirators was forfeited through efforts by the Department of Justice. In 2010, the Department of Justice established the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, to work in partnership with Federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, return those proceeds to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office.
Of the $20 billion to $40 billion lost by developing countries annually through corruption, only about $5 billion has been repatriated in the last 15 years. Governments weakened by corruption and loss of assets due to corruption have fewer resources to devote to the fight against terrorism and fewer resources to devote to building strong financial, law enforcement, and judicial institutions to aid in the fight against the financing of terrorism. The United States has a number of effective programs to reward individuals who provide valuable information that assist in the identification, arrest, and conviction of criminal actors and their associates, as well as seizure and forfeiture of illicitly derived assets and the proceeds of criminal activity.
The Internal Revenue Service has the Whistleblower Program, which pays awards to individuals who provide specific and credible information to the IRS if the information results in the collection of taxes, penalties, interest or other amounts from noncompliant taxpayers. The Department of State administers rewards programs on international terrorism, illegal narcotics, and transnational organized crime with the goal of bringing perpetrators to justice. None of these existing rewards programs specifically provide monetary incentives for identifying and recovering stolen assets linked solely to foreign government corruption, as opposed to criminal prosecutions or civil or criminal forfeitures.
The recovery of stolen assets linked to foreign government corruption and the proceeds of such corruption may not always involve a BSA violation or lead to a forfeiture action. In such cases there would be no ability to pay rewards under existing Treasury Department authorities. Foreign government corruption can take many forms but typically entails government officials stealing, misappropriating, or illegally diverting assets and funds from their own government treasuries to enrich their personal wealth directly through embezzlement or bribes to allow government resources to be expended in ways that are not transparent and may not either be necessary or be the result of open competition.
Corruption also includes situations where public officials take bribes to allow government resources to be expended in ways which are not transparent and may not be necessary or the result of open competition. These corrupt officials often use the United States and international financial system to hide their stolen assets and the proceeds of corruption. The individuals who come forward to expose foreign governmental corruption and kleptocracy often do so at great risk to their own safety and that of their immediate family members and face retaliation from persons who exercise foreign political or governmental power.
Monetary rewards can provide a necessary incentive to expose such corruption and provide a financial means to provide for their well-being and avoid retribution. It is the sense of Congress that a Department of the Treasury stolen asset recovery rewards program to help identify and recover stolen assets linked to foreign government corruption and the proceeds of such corruption hidden behind complex financial structures is needed in order to— intensify the global fight against corruption; and serve United States efforts to identify and recover such stolen assets, forfeit proceeds of such corruption, and, where appropriate and feasible, return the stolen assets or proceeds thereof to the country harmed by the acts of corruption.