Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB385 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 385
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1212 JANUARY14, 2025
1313 Mr. C
1414 OHEN(for himself, Mr. KEATING, Mr. WILSONof South Carolina, and
1515 Ms. S
1616 ALAZAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
1717 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the
1818 Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
1919 each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
2020 tion of the committee concerned
2121 A BILL
2222 To identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish
2323 a tiered list of countries with respect to levels of corrup-
2424 tion by their governments and their efforts to combat
2525 such corruption, and to evaluate whether foreign persons
2626 engaged in significant corruption should be specially des-
2727 ignated nationals under the Global Magnitsky Human
2828 Rights Accountability Act.
2929 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
3030 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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3434 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
3535 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Global Cor-2
3636 ruption Act of 2025’’. 3
3737 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
3838 In this Act: 5
3939 (1) C
4040 ORRUPT ACTOR .—The term ‘‘corrupt 6
4141 actor’’ means— 7
4242 (A) any foreign person or entity that is a 8
4343 government official or government entity re-9
4444 sponsible for, or complicit in, an act of corrup-10
4545 tion; and 11
4646 (B) any company, in which a person or en-12
4747 tity described in subparagraph (A) has a sig-13
4848 nificant stake, which is responsible for, or 14
4949 complicit in, an act of corruption. 15
5050 (2) C
5151 ORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘corruption’’ 16
5252 means the unlawful exercise of entrusted public 17
5353 power for private gain, including by bribery, nepo-18
5454 tism, fraud, or embezzlement. 19
5555 (3) S
5656 IGNIFICANT CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘sig-20
5757 nificant corruption’’ means corruption committed at 21
5858 a high level of government that— 22
5959 (A) illegitimately distorts major decision- 23
6060 making, such as policy or resource determina-24
6161 tions, or other fundamental functions of govern-25
6262 ance; and 26
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6666 (B) involves economically or socially large- 1
6767 scale government activities. 2
6868 SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF TIERED RANKING LIST. 3
6969 (a) I
7070 NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall an-4
7171 nually publish, on a publicly accessible website, a tiered 5
7272 ranking of all foreign countries. 6
7373 (b) T
7474 IER1 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 7
7575 as a tier 1 country in the ranking published under sub-8
7676 section (a) if the government of such country is complying 9
7777 with the minimum standards set forth in section 4. 10
7878 (c) T
7979 IER2 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 11
8080 as a tier 2 country in the ranking published under sub-12
8181 section (a) if the government of such country is making 13
8282 efforts to comply with the minimum standards set forth 14
8383 in section 4, but is not achieving the requisite level of com-15
8484 pliance to be ranked as a tier 1 country. 16
8585 (d) T
8686 IER3 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 17
8787 as a tier 3 country in the ranking published under sub-18
8888 section (a) if the government of such country is making 19
8989 de minimis or no efforts to comply with the minimum 20
9090 standards set forth in section 4. 21
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9494 SEC. 4. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF 1
9595 CORRUPTION AND ASSESSMENT OF EFFORTS 2
9696 TO COMBAT CORRUPTION. 3
9797 (a) I
9898 NGENERAL.—The government of a country is 4
9999 complying with the minimum standards for the elimi-5
100100 nation of corruption if the government— 6
101101 (1) has enacted and implemented laws and es-7
102102 tablished government structures, policies, and prac-8
103103 tices that prohibit and generally deter corruption, in-9
104104 cluding significant corruption; 10
105105 (2) enforces the laws described in paragraph (1) 11
106106 by punishing any person who is found, through a 12
107107 fair judicial process, to have violated such laws; 13
108108 (3) prescribes punishment for significant cor-14
109109 ruption that is commensurate with the punishment 15
110110 prescribed for serious crimes; and 16
111111 (4) is making serious and sustained efforts to 17
112112 address corruption, including through prevention. 18
113113 (b) F
114114 ACTORS FOR ASSESSINGGOVERNMENT EF-19
115115 FORTSTOCOMBATCORRUPTION.—In determining wheth-20
116116 er a government is making serious and sustained efforts 21
117117 to address corruption, the Secretary of State shall con-22
118118 sider, to the extent relevant or appropriate, factors such 23
119119 as— 24
120120 (1) whether the government of the country has 25
121121 criminalized corruption, investigates and prosecutes 26
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125125 acts of corruption, and convicts and sentences per-1
126126 sons responsible for such acts over which it has ju-2
127127 risdiction, including, as appropriate, incarcerating 3
128128 individuals convicted of such acts; 4
129129 (2) whether the government of the country vig-5
130130 orously investigates, prosecutes, convicts, and sen-6
131131 tences public officials who participate in or facilitate 7
132132 corruption, including nationals of the country who 8
133133 are deployed in foreign military assignments, trade 9
134134 delegations abroad, or other similar missions, who 10
135135 engage in or facilitate significant corruption; 11
136136 (3) whether the government of the country has 12
137137 adopted measures to prevent corruption, such as 13
138138 measures to inform and educate the public, including 14
139139 potential victims, about the causes and consequences 15
140140 of corruption; 16
141141 (4) whether the government of the country has 17
142142 taken steps to prohibit government officials from 18
143143 participating in, facilitating, or condoning corrup-19
144144 tion, including the investigation, prosecution, and 20
145145 conviction of such officials; 21
146146 (5) the extent to which the country provides ac-22
147147 cess, or, as appropriate, makes adequate resources 23
148148 available, to civil society organizations and other in-24
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152152 stitutions to combat corruption, including reporting, 1
153153 investigating, and monitoring; 2
154154 (6) whether an independent judiciary or judicial 3
155155 body in the country is responsible for, and effectively 4
156156 capable of, deciding corruption cases impartially, on 5
157157 the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, 6
158158 without any improper restrictions, influences, in-7
159159 ducements, pressures, threats, or interferences (di-8
160160 rect or indirect); 9
161161 (7) whether the government of the country is 10
162162 assisting in international investigations of 11
163163 transnational corruption networks and in other coop-12
164164 erative efforts to combat significant corruption, in-13
165165 cluding, as appropriate, cooperating with the govern-14
166166 ments of other countries to extradite corrupt actors; 15
167167 (8) whether the government of the country rec-16
168168 ognizes the rights of victims of corruption, ensures 17
169169 their access to justice, and takes steps to prevent 18
170170 victims from being further victimized or persecuted 19
171171 by corrupt actors, government officials, or others; 20
172172 (9) whether the government of the country pro-21
173173 tects victims of corruption or whistleblowers from re-22
174174 prisal due to such persons having assisted in expos-23
175175 ing corruption, and refrains from other discrimina-24
176176 tory treatment of such persons; 25
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180180 (10) whether the government of the country is 1
181181 willing and able to recover and, as appropriate, re-2
182182 turn the proceeds of corruption; 3
183183 (11) whether the government of the country is 4
184184 taking steps to implement financial transparency 5
185185 measures in line with the Financial Action Task 6
186186 Force recommendations, including due diligence and 7
187187 beneficial ownership transparency requirements; 8
188188 (12) whether the government of the country is 9
189189 facilitating corruption in other countries in connec-10
190190 tion with state-directed investment, loans or grants 11
191191 for major infrastructure, or other initiatives; and 12
192192 (13) such other information relating to corrup-13
193193 tion as the Secretary of State considers appropriate. 14
194194 (c) A
195195 SSESSINGGOVERNMENTEFFORTSTOCOMBAT 15
196196 C
197197 ORRUPTION IN RELATION TO RELEVANTINTER-16
198198 NATIONALCOMMITMENTS.—In determining whether a 17
199199 government is making serious and sustained efforts to ad-18
200200 dress corruption, the Secretary of State shall consider the 19
201201 government of a country’s compliance with the following, 20
202202 as relevant: 21
203203 (1) The Inter-American Convention against 22
204204 Corruption of the Organization of American States, 23
205205 done at Caracas March 29, 1996. 24
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209209 (2) The Convention on Combating Bribery of 1
210210 Foreign Public Officials in International Business 2
211211 Transactions of the Organisation of Economic Co- 3
212212 operation and Development, done at Paris December 4
213213 21, 1997 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Anti-Brib-5
214214 ery Convention’’). 6
215215 (3) The United Nations Convention against 7
216216 Transnational Organized Crime, done at New York 8
217217 November 15, 2000. 9
218218 (4) The United Nations Convention against 10
219219 Corruption, done at New York October 31, 2003. 11
220220 (5) Such other treaties, agreements, and inter-12
221221 national standards as the Secretary of State con-13
222222 siders appropriate. 14
223223 SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS UNDER GLOBAL 15
224224 MAGNITSKY HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNT-16
225225 ABILITY ACT. 17
226226 (a) I
227227 NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in coordi-18
228228 nation with the Secretary of the Treasury, should evaluate 19
229229 whether there are foreign persons engaged in significant 20
230230 corruption for the purposes of potential imposition of 21
231231 sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Ac-22
232232 countability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 23
233233 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) in all countries identified 24
234234 as tier 3 countries under section 3. 25
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238238 (b) REPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 1
239239 after publishing the list required by section 3(a) and annu-2
240240 ally thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 3
241241 committees specified in subsection (e) a report that in-4
242242 cludes— 5
243243 (1) a list of foreign persons with respect to 6
244244 which the President imposed sanctions pursuant to 7
245245 the evaluation under subsection (a); 8
246246 (2) the dates on which such sanctions were im-9
247247 posed; and 10
248248 (3) the reasons for imposing such sanctions. 11
249249 (c) F
250250 ORM OFREPORT.—Each report required by sub-12
251251 section (b) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 13
252252 include a classified annex. 14
253253 (d) B
254254 RIEFING INLIEU OFREPORT.—The Secretary 15
255255 of State, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treas-16
256256 ury, may provide a briefing to the committees specified 17
257257 in subsection (e) instead of submitting a written report 18
258258 required under subsection (b), if doing so would better 19
259259 serve existing United States anti-corruption efforts or the 20
260260 national interests of the United States. 21
261261 (e) C
262262 OMMITTEESSPECIFIED.—The committees speci-22
263263 fied in this subsection are— 23
264264 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 24
265265 Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on 25
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269269 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Com-1
270270 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate; and 2
271271 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 3
272272 Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Fi-4
273273 nancial Services, and the Committee on the Judici-5
274274 ary of the House of Representatives. 6
275275 SEC. 6. DESIGNATION OF EMBASSY ANTI-CORRUPTION 7
276276 POINTS OF CONTACT. 8
277277 (a) I
278278 NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall an-9
279279 nually designate an anti-corruption point of contact at the 10
280280 United States diplomatic post to each country identified 11
281281 as tier 2 or tier 3 under section 3, or which the Secretary 12
282282 otherwise determines is in need of such a point of contact. 13
283283 The point of contact shall be the chief of mission or the 14
284284 chief of mission’s designee. 15
285285 (b) R
286286 ESPONSIBILITIES.—Each anti-corruption point 16
287287 of contact designated under subsection (a) shall be respon-17
288288 sible for enhancing coordination and promoting the imple-18
289289 mentation of a whole-of-government approach among the 19
290290 relevant Federal departments and agencies undertaking 20
291291 efforts to— 21
292292 (1) promote good governance in foreign coun-22
293293 tries; and 23
294294 (2) enhance the ability of such countries— 24
295295 (A) to combat public corruption; and 25
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299299 (B) to develop and implement corruption 1
300300 risk assessment tools and mitigation strategies. 2
301301 (c) T
302302 RAINING.—The Secretary of State shall imple-3
303303 ment appropriate training for anti-corruption points of 4
304304 contact designated under subsection (a). 5
305305 Æ
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