ማቀባበል (Facilitating Act of Bribery)

(ለጉቦኞች አይላላኩ፤ ከተላኩ ዘብጥያ ይላካሉ!)

ይህ አጭር ጽሑፍ በማወቅም ባለማወቅም የወንጀል አድራጊዎች ተልእኮ የሚያስፈጽሙ ሰዎች እንዲጠነቀቁ ለማስቻል በግርድፉ የቀረበ ነው፤ ጥልቀት ያለው ትንተና እንዳይጠብቁ። ጽሑፉ ሰዎች የቆሸሸ ገንዘብ የሚያቀባብሉበት እጃቸው፣ እንዲሁም የጉቦኞች የገንዘብ መላላኪያ የሚያደርጉት የባንክ ሂሳብ ቁጥራቸው አደገኛ መዘዝ ይዞባቸው እንዳይመጣ ሊጠነቀቁ ይገባል የሚል መልእክት ለማስተላለፍ፣ ምናልባትም ለማስጠንቀቅ የቀረበ የሕጉ አጭር መግለጫ ነው። ለሕግ ሙያተኞች ፈጽሞ ጥቅም የለውም ማለት ባይቻልም ዓይነተኛ ጥቅሙ ግን ከሙያው ዓለም ውጪ ላለው ለተራው ማኅበረሰብ ነው። ጽሑፉ ስለማቀባበል የሙስና ወንጀል ውስን የግንዛቤ ማስጨበጫ ነጥቦችን በመያዝ ተዘጋጅቷል። ሕግን አለማወቅ ከተጠያቂነት አያድንምና ይነበብ።

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Corruption for growth and development

Yes it is conventional wisdom of corruption that the latter may be reduced with the expansion of rule based and more market oriented institutions. It is also widely accepted that the role of corruption, in part, has been contributive to economic growth in East Asia. Are these compatible? By way of explaining the role of corruption for distinctive economic accomplishment for a short period in East Asia; I will develop the essay showing that it is due to other factors/reasons and not because the East Asian states lacked the aforementioned institutions and rules to tackle corruption that it was widespread but, fortunately and unexpectedly (unintentionally – D. Kang, said it!), was to their economic growth.

Caution! By definition, corruption is inherently evil!

As we will discuss below, the fact that corruption in the history of some selected East Asian countries, at macro level, has facilitated their growth does not imply: a) it harms no one in the country b) some individuals have not gained undue advantage c) it can be officially adopted by a country as a viable economic growth model d) at micro level honest and law abiding businesspersons are not disadvantaged as their competitors enjoyed special treatment by the corrupt government officials.

There are several explanations why corruption has not affected their growth rather facilitated their economic performance.

According to Wedeman (P.3), although it is widely assumed that corruption has negative consequences, the fact remains that the Chinese economy, despite the existence of corruption, has performed remarkably well. Between 1979 and 2002 the Chinese economy outperformed the rest of the world by a factor of ten, with GDP growing 500.8 per cent in real per capita terms versus a global average of 44.6 per cent. According to Shliefer and Vishny, the negative consequences of hierarchically organized high-level corruption ought to be less than anarchic low-level corruption because high-level corruption is generally more predictable and hence reduces risk and transaction costs. If so, then the apparent contradiction between "worsening" corruption and China's extraordinarily high rate of growth might be, in part, a function of reductions in low-level corruption and the forging of a collusive relationship between high-ranking cadres and the emerging business community, wherein those with political power have material incentives to facilitate profit-making by their "business partners." (Wedeman, P.28)

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Criminalizing and Prosecuting Illicit Enrichment in Corruption Cases

Corruption is becoming a major threat to the world. All countries of the globe are running the risks associated with it. Corrupt practices such as bribery and other abuses of public functions for private gain have been criminalised in almost all legal systems. Criminalisation of acts of corruption constitutes one of the major dimensions of the international anti-corruption instruments.

The clandestine nature of corruption crimes creates difficulties in gathering evidence for prosecution and effective implementation of the law. To overcome such problems, some indicators of corruption such as possession of property that far exceeds legitimate sources of income need to be criminalised. It is also imperative to deal with the challenges associated with such criminalisation. The international community, in combating corruption, calls upon states to outlaw and criminalise certain acts of corruption, and illicit enrichment is one of them. Since not all states of the world have criminalised illicit enrichment under the ambit of their anti-corruption legislation, this study mainly addresses the importance of its criminalisation so as to fight corruption in a broader and more effective way.

This article tries to analyse the challenges related to due process of law in the investigation and prosecution of illicit enrichment. Further, complexities associated with the process of recovering illicitly acquired assets, such as resources and expertise, as well as effective co-operation among various jurisdictions, need to be explored.

By giving special emphasis to the Ethiopian legal framework on the matter, the nature of the offence, its prosecution, and the challenges associated with recovering the proceeds of the crime, especially such proceeds as have already gone from the country, will be considered. In this regard, the effectiveness of the law in contributing towards the effort to eradicate corruption is the central point.

In addition to the law relating to the offence of illicit enrichment, the article analyses the Ethiopian anti-corruption laws and their effectiveness in combating corruption.   

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አዲሱ የፀረ ሙስና ሕግ በግል ኩባንያወች ላይ ተፈፃሚነቱና የሕግ አንድምታው

 

“Nothing will unlock Africa’s economic potential more than ending the ‘Cancer of Corruption”

Barack H. Obama, US President key note to African Union July 28 2015

 መግቢያ

ሙስና የአለማችን ብሎም የሀገራችን ስጋት እና የመነጋገሪያ አጀንዳ ከሆነ ሰነባብቷል፡፡ ሀገራትም የሙስና ትግሉን ከግብ ለማድረስ የፖሊሲና የሕግ ማዕቀፍ በማዘጋጀት እንቅስቃሴውን ከጀመሩ ሰነባብተዋል፡፡

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The Hidden Side of Corruption

A Review of Williams and Beare in their article ‘The Business of Bribery: Globalisation, Economic Liberalisation, and the ‘Problem’ of Corruption’, present both sides of the story.

 

1.      Introduction

 

Unlike, the long standing view of corruption as a national problem, currently, corruption is understood as an epidemic of the world. However, this perception is questioned on numerous grounds. Among other things, it is argued that, the present concept of corruption reflects of western economic and political interest, rather than the reality.

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Mutual Legal Assistance as an Anti-Corruption Mechanism

1. Introduction

Unlike crimes like murder, theft and rape that are committed in one jurisdiction, corruption can take multiple jurisdictions. Hence, the fight against corruption is complex as it is supported by advanced technologies and confronted by jurisdiction barriers.

Identifying this difficulty, international as well as regional anti-corruption instruments have highlighted the significant of international cooperation to combat corruption. Among other mechanisms, countries are recommended to use mutual legal assistance.

This paper will discuss the concept of mutual legal assistance and how it is stipulated under the international and regional anti-corruption instruments. It will also look at the practice and challenges of it.

2.  What is Mutual Legal Assistance?

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Extradition regime under The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)

1.      Introduction

Globalization is easing border restrictions and increasing travel opportunities. Perpetrators use globalization to avoid prosecution and justice. This problem can be solved by creating international cooperation between criminal justice systems of countries. Among others,Extradition has been used in handling transnational criminal matters. Extradition denotes the process of request made by a state to transfer a fugitive from another for purpose of prosecution.

The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) provides extradition as one of the devices to be used in the fight against corruption.

2.      Fundamental Provision of Extradition under UNCAC

Extradition requests are generally determined by domestic laws and extradition agreements concluded by states. Among others, they need to satisfy the minimum penalty requirements for extradition and should fall outside the grounds of refusal for extradition.

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