World Bank, UN renew
commitment to help developing
nations recover billions of
looted funds
By Masahudu
Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
QAccra, Dec 14,
Ghanadot - The World Bank Group
and the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today
renewed their commitment to
helping developing countries
recover billion of dollars of
looted funds.
The World Bank
Group President, Robert B.
Zoellick, Managing Director,
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the
UNODC Executive Director,
Antonio Maria Costa, presided
over the first meeting of
Friends of the Stolen Asset
Recovery Initiative (StAR), an
advisory committee of high
profile anti-corruption fighters
from around the world. The group
is being chaired by Jordanian
Minister of State, Muhyieddeen
Touq.
"We are strongly
committed to making the Stolen Asset
Recovery Initiative succeed," said
Danny Leipziger, World Bank
Vice-President for Poverty Reduction
and Economic Management (PREM), the
institution's network responsible
for the initiative. "Recovering
assets is a difficult task, so the
experience and advice from experts
will be key in achieving our goal."
"This alliance
between the World Bank and the UNODC,
the custodian of the United Nations
Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC),
will help countries tackle the
problem," said Minister Touq. "If
the (stolen) money could be used for
development, it would be helping a
lot of people."
StAR was launched
last September, in partnership with
the UNODC, to help developing
countries recover assets stolen by
corrupt leaders, help invest them in
effective development programs and
combat safe havens internationally.
Asset theft is a
development problem of the first
magnitude. It is estimated that
corrupt leaders of poor countries
skim as much as US$40 billion per
year -- a figure which represents 40
percent of annual official
development assistance-- and stash
their looted funds overseas.
That's why StAR seeks
to strengthen cooperation between
developed and developing countries,
and between the public and private
sector, to ensure that
industrialized nations and financial
centers don't provide safe heavens
for the stolen money.
According to World
Bank Group estimates, every US$100
million restituted to a developing
country in Africa could fund 3.3 to
10 million insecticide-treated bed
nets; or first-line treatment
against HIV/AIDS for over 600,000
people for one year; or 50 to 100
million ACT treatments for malaria;
or full immunizations for 4 million
children.
Helping developing
countries build capacity to recover
assets and stem new outflows.
Working with major
financial centers to lower barriers
to recovery of stolen assets as well
as to detect and prevent their
concealment.
Becoming a source of
knowledge and expertise on trends
and best practices in asset
recovery.
Offering services
to help monitor, on a voluntary
basis, the use of recovered
funds.
Friends of the Stolen
Asset Recovery
Initiative
|
Muhyieddeen Touq,
Ministry Affairs, Jordan
|
Minister
of State for Prime
|
|
|
Former
Prosecutor General of
Japan
|
|
|
Senior
Advisor Norwegian Agency
for Development
Cooperation
|
|
|
Attorney
Law Monfrini Crettol &
Associés, Switzerland
|
|
|
Deputy
Assistant Attorney
General US Justice
Department - Criminal
Division
|
|
|
Former
Attorney General of Peru
|
Sultan
Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi
|
Governor,
Central Bank, United
Arab Emirates
|
|
|
Governor,
Eastern Caribbean
Central Bank
|
|
|
Director
of Public International
Law Swiss Federal
Department for Foreign
Affairs
|
|
|
Executive
Director UK Serious
Organized Crime Agency (SOCA)
|
|
|
Chair,
Economic and Financial
Crime Commission Nigeria
|
|
|
Chair,
Central Provident Fund
Board Singapore
|
Ghanadot
