Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB53 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 118THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 53
55 To identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish a tiered list
66 of countries with respect to levels of corruption by their governments
77 and their efforts to combat such corruption, and to evaluate whether
88 foreign persons engaged in significant corruption should be specially
99 designated nationals under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Account-
1010 ability Act.
1111 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
1212 JANUARY24 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
1313 Mr. C
1414 ARDIN(for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which
1515 was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
1616 A BILL
1717 To identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish
1818 a tiered list of countries with respect to levels of corrup-
1919 tion by their governments and their efforts to combat
2020 such corruption, and to evaluate whether foreign persons
2121 engaged in significant corruption should be specially des-
2222 ignated nationals under the Global Magnitsky Human
2323 Rights Accountability Act.
2424 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2525 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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2929 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
3030 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Global Cor-2
3131 ruption Act of 2023’’. 3
3232 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
3333 In this Act: 5
3434 (1) C
3535 ORRUPT ACTOR .—The term ‘‘corrupt 6
3636 actor’’ means— 7
3737 (A) any foreign person or entity that is a 8
3838 government official or government entity re-9
3939 sponsible for, or complicit in, an act of corrup-10
4040 tion; and 11
4141 (B) any company, in which a person or en-12
4242 tity described in subparagraph (A) has a sig-13
4343 nificant stake, which is responsible for, or 14
4444 complicit in, an act of corruption. 15
4545 (2) C
4646 ORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘corruption’’ 16
4747 means the unlawful exercise of entrusted public 17
4848 power for private gain, including by bribery, nepo-18
4949 tism, fraud, or embezzlement. 19
5050 (3) S
5151 IGNIFICANT CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘sig-20
5252 nificant corruption’’ means corruption committed at 21
5353 a high level of government that— 22
5454 (A) illegitimately distorts major decision- 23
5555 making, such as policy or resource determina-24
5656 tions, or other fundamental functions of govern-25
5757 ance; and 26
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6161 (B) involves economically or socially large- 1
6262 scale government activities. 2
6363 SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF TIERED RANKING LIST. 3
6464 (a) I
6565 NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall an-4
6666 nually publish, on a publicly accessible website, a tiered 5
6767 ranking of all foreign countries. 6
6868 (b) T
6969 IER1 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 7
7070 as a tier 1 country in the ranking published under sub-8
7171 section (a) if the government of such country is complying 9
7272 with the minimum standards set forth in section 4. 10
7373 (c) T
7474 IER2 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 11
7575 as a tier 2 country in the ranking published under sub-12
7676 section (a) if the government of such country is making 13
7777 efforts to comply with the minimum standards set forth 14
7878 in section 4, but is not achieving the requisite level of com-15
7979 pliance to be ranked as a tier 1 country. 16
8080 (d) T
8181 IER3 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 17
8282 as a tier 3 country in the ranking published under sub-18
8383 section (a) if the government of such country is making 19
8484 de minimis or no efforts to comply with the minimum 20
8585 standards set forth in section 4. 21
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8989 SEC. 4. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF 1
9090 CORRUPTION AND ASSESSMENT OF EFFORTS 2
9191 TO COMBAT CORRUPTION. 3
9292 (a) I
9393 NGENERAL.—The government of a country is 4
9494 complying with the minimum standards for the elimi-5
9595 nation of corruption if the government— 6
9696 (1) has enacted and implemented laws and es-7
9797 tablished government structures, policies, and prac-8
9898 tices that prohibit and generally deter corruption, in-9
9999 cluding significant corruption; 10
100100 (2) enforces the laws described in paragraph (1) 11
101101 by punishing any person who is found, through a 12
102102 fair judicial process, to have violated such laws; 13
103103 (3) prescribes punishment for significant cor-14
104104 ruption that is commensurate with the punishment 15
105105 prescribed for serious crimes; and 16
106106 (4) is making serious and sustained efforts to 17
107107 address corruption, including through prevention. 18
108108 (b) F
109109 ACTORS FOR ASSESSINGGOVERNMENT EF-19
110110 FORTSTOCOMBATCORRUPTION.—In determining wheth-20
111111 er a government is making serious and sustained efforts 21
112112 to address corruption, the Secretary of State shall con-22
113113 sider, to the extent relevant or appropriate, factors such 23
114114 as— 24
115115 (1) whether the government of the country has 25
116116 criminalized corruption, investigates and prosecutes 26
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120120 acts of corruption, and convicts and sentences per-1
121121 sons responsible for such acts over which it has ju-2
122122 risdiction, including, as appropriate, incarcerating 3
123123 individuals convicted of such acts; 4
124124 (2) whether the government of the country vig-5
125125 orously investigates, prosecutes, convicts, and sen-6
126126 tences public officials who participate in or facilitate 7
127127 corruption, including nationals of the country who 8
128128 are deployed in foreign military assignments, trade 9
129129 delegations abroad, or other similar missions, who 10
130130 engage in or facilitate significant corruption; 11
131131 (3) whether the government of the country has 12
132132 adopted measures to prevent corruption, such as 13
133133 measures to inform and educate the public, including 14
134134 potential victims, about the causes and consequences 15
135135 of corruption; 16
136136 (4) whether the government of the country has 17
137137 taken steps to prohibit government officials from 18
138138 participating in, facilitating, or condoning corrup-19
139139 tion, including the investigation, prosecution, and 20
140140 conviction of such officials; 21
141141 (5) the extent to which the country provides ac-22
142142 cess, or, as appropriate, makes adequate resources 23
143143 available, to civil society organizations and other in-24
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147147 stitutions to combat corruption, including reporting, 1
148148 investigating, and monitoring; 2
149149 (6) whether an independent judiciary or judicial 3
150150 body in the country is responsible for, and effectively 4
151151 capable of, deciding corruption cases impartially, on 5
152152 the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, 6
153153 without any improper restrictions, influences, in-7
154154 ducements, pressures, threats, or interferences (di-8
155155 rect or indirect); 9
156156 (7) whether the government of the country is 10
157157 assisting in international investigations of 11
158158 transnational corruption networks and in other coop-12
159159 erative efforts to combat significant corruption, in-13
160160 cluding, as appropriate, cooperating with the govern-14
161161 ments of other countries to extradite corrupt actors; 15
162162 (8) whether the government of the country rec-16
163163 ognizes the rights of victims of corruption, ensures 17
164164 their access to justice, and takes steps to prevent 18
165165 victims from being further victimized or persecuted 19
166166 by corrupt actors, government officials, or others; 20
167167 (9) whether the government of the country pro-21
168168 tects victims of corruption or whistleblowers from re-22
169169 prisal due to such persons having assisted in expos-23
170170 ing corruption, and refrains from other discrimina-24
171171 tory treatment of such persons; 25
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175175 (10) whether the government of the country is 1
176176 willing and able to recover and, as appropriate, re-2
177177 turn the proceeds of corruption; 3
178178 (11) whether the government of the country is 4
179179 taking steps to implement financial transparency 5
180180 measures in line with the Financial Action Task 6
181181 Force recommendations, including due diligence and 7
182182 beneficial ownership transparency requirements; 8
183183 (12) whether the government of the country is 9
184184 facilitating corruption in other countries in connec-10
185185 tion with state-directed investment, loans or grants 11
186186 for major infrastructure, or other initiatives; and 12
187187 (13) such other information relating to corrup-13
188188 tion as the Secretary of State considers appropriate. 14
189189 (c) A
190190 SSESSINGGOVERNMENTEFFORTSTOCOMBAT 15
191191 C
192192 ORRUPTION IN RELATION TO RELEVANTINTER-16
193193 NATIONALCOMMITMENTS.—In determining whether a 17
194194 government is making serious and sustained efforts to ad-18
195195 dress corruption, the Secretary of State shall consider the 19
196196 government of a country’s compliance with the following, 20
197197 as relevant: 21
198198 (1) The Inter-American Convention against 22
199199 Corruption of the Organization of American States, 23
200200 done at Caracas March 29, 1996. 24
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204204 (2) The Convention on Combating Bribery of 1
205205 Foreign Public Officials in International Business 2
206206 Transactions of the Organisation of Economic Co- 3
207207 operation and Development, done at Paris December 4
208208 21, 1997 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Anti-Brib-5
209209 ery Convention’’). 6
210210 (3) The United Nations Convention against 7
211211 Transnational Organized Crime, done at New York 8
212212 November 15, 2000. 9
213213 (4) The United Nations Convention against 10
214214 Corruption, done at New York October 31, 2003. 11
215215 (5) Such other treaties, agreements, and inter-12
216216 national standards as the Secretary of State con-13
217217 siders appropriate. 14
218218 SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS UNDER GLOBAL 15
219219 MAGNITSKY HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNT-16
220220 ABILITY ACT. 17
221221 (a) I
222222 NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in coordi-18
223223 nation with the Secretary of the Treasury, should evaluate 19
224224 whether there are foreign persons engaged in significant 20
225225 corruption for the purposes of potential imposition of 21
226226 sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Ac-22
227227 countability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 23
228228 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) in all countries identified 24
229229 as tier 3 countries under section 3. 25
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233233 (b) REPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 1
234234 after publishing the list required by section 3(a) and annu-2
235235 ally thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 3
236236 committees specified in subsection (e) a report that in-4
237237 cludes— 5
238238 (1) a list of foreign persons with respect to 6
239239 which the President imposed sanctions pursuant to 7
240240 the evaluation under subsection (a); 8
241241 (2) the dates on which such sanctions were im-9
242242 posed; and 10
243243 (3) the reasons for imposing such sanctions. 11
244244 (c) F
245245 ORM OFREPORT.—Each report required by sub-12
246246 section (b) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 13
247247 include a classified annex. 14
248248 (d) B
249249 RIEFING INLIEU OFREPORT.—The Secretary 15
250250 of State, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treas-16
251251 ury, may provide a briefing to the committees specified 17
252252 in subsection (e) instead of submitting a written report 18
253253 required under subsection (b), if doing so would better 19
254254 serve existing United States anti-corruption efforts or the 20
255255 national interests of the United States. 21
256256 (e) C
257257 OMMITTEESSPECIFIED.—The committees speci-22
258258 fied in this subsection are— 23
259259 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 24
260260 Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on 25
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264264 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Com-1
265265 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate; and 2
266266 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 3
267267 Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Fi-4
268268 nancial Services, and the Committee on the Judici-5
269269 ary of the House of Representatives. 6
270270 SEC. 6. DESIGNATION OF EMBASSY ANTI-CORRUPTION 7
271271 POINTS OF CONTACT. 8
272272 (a) I
273273 NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall an-9
274274 nually designate an anti-corruption point of contact at the 10
275275 United States diplomatic post to each country identified 11
276276 as tier 2 or tier 3 under section 3, or which the Secretary 12
277277 otherwise determines is in need of such a point of contact. 13
278278 The point of contact shall be the chief of mission or the 14
279279 chief of mission’s designee. 15
280280 (b) R
281281 ESPONSIBILITIES.—Each anti-corruption point 16
282282 of contact designated under subsection (a) shall be respon-17
283283 sible for enhancing coordination and promoting the imple-18
284284 mentation of a whole-of-government approach among the 19
285285 relevant Federal departments and agencies undertaking 20
286286 efforts to— 21
287287 (1) promote good governance in foreign coun-22
288288 tries; and 23
289289 (2) enhance the ability of such countries— 24
290290 (A) to combat public corruption; and 25
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294294 (B) to develop and implement corruption 1
295295 risk assessment tools and mitigation strategies. 2
296296 (c) T
297297 RAINING.—The Secretary of State shall imple-3
298298 ment appropriate training for anti-corruption points of 4
299299 contact designated under subsection (a). 5
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