I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 385
To identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish a tiered list
of countries with respect to levels of corruption by their governments
and their efforts to combat such corruption, and to evaluate whether
foreign persons engaged in significant corruption should be specially
designated nationals under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Account-
ability Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY14, 2025
Mr. C
OHEN(for himself, Mr. KEATING, Mr. WILSONof South Carolina, and
Ms. S
ALAZAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish
a tiered list of countries with respect to levels of corrup-
tion by their governments and their efforts to combat
such corruption, and to evaluate whether foreign persons
engaged in significant corruption should be specially des-
ignated nationals under the Global Magnitsky Human
Rights Accountability Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 385 IH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Global Cor-2
ruption Act of 2025’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) C
ORRUPT ACTOR .—The term ‘‘corrupt 6
actor’’ means— 7
(A) any foreign person or entity that is a 8
government official or government entity re-9
sponsible for, or complicit in, an act of corrup-10
tion; and 11
(B) any company, in which a person or en-12
tity described in subparagraph (A) has a sig-13
nificant stake, which is responsible for, or 14
complicit in, an act of corruption. 15
(2) C
ORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘corruption’’ 16
means the unlawful exercise of entrusted public 17
power for private gain, including by bribery, nepo-18
tism, fraud, or embezzlement. 19
(3) S
IGNIFICANT CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘sig-20
nificant corruption’’ means corruption committed at 21
a high level of government that— 22
(A) illegitimately distorts major decision- 23
making, such as policy or resource determina-24
tions, or other fundamental functions of govern-25
ance; and 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 385 IH
(B) involves economically or socially large- 1
scale government activities. 2
SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF TIERED RANKING LIST. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall an-4
nually publish, on a publicly accessible website, a tiered 5
ranking of all foreign countries. 6
(b) T
IER1 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 7
as a tier 1 country in the ranking published under sub-8
section (a) if the government of such country is complying 9
with the minimum standards set forth in section 4. 10
(c) T
IER2 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 11
as a tier 2 country in the ranking published under sub-12
section (a) if the government of such country is making 13
efforts to comply with the minimum standards set forth 14
in section 4, but is not achieving the requisite level of com-15
pliance to be ranked as a tier 1 country. 16
(d) T
IER3 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 17
as a tier 3 country in the ranking published under sub-18
section (a) if the government of such country is making 19
de minimis or no efforts to comply with the minimum 20
standards set forth in section 4. 21
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 385 IH
SEC. 4. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF 1
CORRUPTION AND ASSESSMENT OF EFFORTS 2
TO COMBAT CORRUPTION. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The government of a country is 4
complying with the minimum standards for the elimi-5
nation of corruption if the government— 6
(1) has enacted and implemented laws and es-7
tablished government structures, policies, and prac-8
tices that prohibit and generally deter corruption, in-9
cluding significant corruption; 10
(2) enforces the laws described in paragraph (1) 11
by punishing any person who is found, through a 12
fair judicial process, to have violated such laws; 13
(3) prescribes punishment for significant cor-14
ruption that is commensurate with the punishment 15
prescribed for serious crimes; and 16
(4) is making serious and sustained efforts to 17
address corruption, including through prevention. 18
(b) F
ACTORS FOR ASSESSINGGOVERNMENT EF-19
FORTSTOCOMBATCORRUPTION.—In determining wheth-20
er a government is making serious and sustained efforts 21
to address corruption, the Secretary of State shall con-22
sider, to the extent relevant or appropriate, factors such 23
as— 24
(1) whether the government of the country has 25
criminalized corruption, investigates and prosecutes 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 385 IH
acts of corruption, and convicts and sentences per-1
sons responsible for such acts over which it has ju-2
risdiction, including, as appropriate, incarcerating 3
individuals convicted of such acts; 4
(2) whether the government of the country vig-5
orously investigates, prosecutes, convicts, and sen-6
tences public officials who participate in or facilitate 7
corruption, including nationals of the country who 8
are deployed in foreign military assignments, trade 9
delegations abroad, or other similar missions, who 10
engage in or facilitate significant corruption; 11
(3) whether the government of the country has 12
adopted measures to prevent corruption, such as 13
measures to inform and educate the public, including 14
potential victims, about the causes and consequences 15
of corruption; 16
(4) whether the government of the country has 17
taken steps to prohibit government officials from 18
participating in, facilitating, or condoning corrup-19
tion, including the investigation, prosecution, and 20
conviction of such officials; 21
(5) the extent to which the country provides ac-22
cess, or, as appropriate, makes adequate resources 23
available, to civil society organizations and other in-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 385 IH
stitutions to combat corruption, including reporting, 1
investigating, and monitoring; 2
(6) whether an independent judiciary or judicial 3
body in the country is responsible for, and effectively 4
capable of, deciding corruption cases impartially, on 5
the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, 6
without any improper restrictions, influences, in-7
ducements, pressures, threats, or interferences (di-8
rect or indirect); 9
(7) whether the government of the country is 10
assisting in international investigations of 11
transnational corruption networks and in other coop-12
erative efforts to combat significant corruption, in-13
cluding, as appropriate, cooperating with the govern-14
ments of other countries to extradite corrupt actors; 15
(8) whether the government of the country rec-16
ognizes the rights of victims of corruption, ensures 17
their access to justice, and takes steps to prevent 18
victims from being further victimized or persecuted 19
by corrupt actors, government officials, or others; 20
(9) whether the government of the country pro-21
tects victims of corruption or whistleblowers from re-22
prisal due to such persons having assisted in expos-23
ing corruption, and refrains from other discrimina-24
tory treatment of such persons; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 385 IH
(10) whether the government of the country is 1
willing and able to recover and, as appropriate, re-2
turn the proceeds of corruption; 3
(11) whether the government of the country is 4
taking steps to implement financial transparency 5
measures in line with the Financial Action Task 6
Force recommendations, including due diligence and 7
beneficial ownership transparency requirements; 8
(12) whether the government of the country is 9
facilitating corruption in other countries in connec-10
tion with state-directed investment, loans or grants 11
for major infrastructure, or other initiatives; and 12
(13) such other information relating to corrup-13
tion as the Secretary of State considers appropriate. 14
(c) A
SSESSINGGOVERNMENTEFFORTSTOCOMBAT 15
C
ORRUPTION IN RELATION TO RELEVANTINTER-16
NATIONALCOMMITMENTS.—In determining whether a 17
government is making serious and sustained efforts to ad-18
dress corruption, the Secretary of State shall consider the 19
government of a country’s compliance with the following, 20
as relevant: 21
(1) The Inter-American Convention against 22
Corruption of the Organization of American States, 23
done at Caracas March 29, 1996. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 385 IH
(2) The Convention on Combating Bribery of 1
Foreign Public Officials in International Business 2
Transactions of the Organisation of Economic Co- 3
operation and Development, done at Paris December 4
21, 1997 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Anti-Brib-5
ery Convention’’). 6
(3) The United Nations Convention against 7
Transnational Organized Crime, done at New York 8
November 15, 2000. 9
(4) The United Nations Convention against 10
Corruption, done at New York October 31, 2003. 11
(5) Such other treaties, agreements, and inter-12
national standards as the Secretary of State con-13
siders appropriate. 14
SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS UNDER GLOBAL 15
MAGNITSKY HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNT-16
ABILITY ACT. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in coordi-18
nation with the Secretary of the Treasury, should evaluate 19
whether there are foreign persons engaged in significant 20
corruption for the purposes of potential imposition of 21
sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Ac-22
countability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 23
114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) in all countries identified 24
as tier 3 countries under section 3. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•HR 385 IH
(b) REPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 1
after publishing the list required by section 3(a) and annu-2
ally thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 3
committees specified in subsection (e) a report that in-4
cludes— 5
(1) a list of foreign persons with respect to 6
which the President imposed sanctions pursuant to 7
the evaluation under subsection (a); 8
(2) the dates on which such sanctions were im-9
posed; and 10
(3) the reasons for imposing such sanctions. 11
(c) F
ORM OFREPORT.—Each report required by sub-12
section (b) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 13
include a classified annex. 14
(d) B
RIEFING INLIEU OFREPORT.—The Secretary 15
of State, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treas-16
ury, may provide a briefing to the committees specified 17
in subsection (e) instead of submitting a written report 18
required under subsection (b), if doing so would better 19
serve existing United States anti-corruption efforts or the 20
national interests of the United States. 21
(e) C
OMMITTEESSPECIFIED.—The committees speci-22
fied in this subsection are— 23
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 24
Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•HR 385 IH
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Com-1
mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate; and 2
(2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 3
Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Fi-4
nancial Services, and the Committee on the Judici-5
ary of the House of Representatives. 6
SEC. 6. DESIGNATION OF EMBASSY ANTI-CORRUPTION 7
POINTS OF CONTACT. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall an-9
nually designate an anti-corruption point of contact at the 10
United States diplomatic post to each country identified 11
as tier 2 or tier 3 under section 3, or which the Secretary 12
otherwise determines is in need of such a point of contact. 13
The point of contact shall be the chief of mission or the 14
chief of mission’s designee. 15
(b) R
ESPONSIBILITIES.—Each anti-corruption point 16
of contact designated under subsection (a) shall be respon-17
sible for enhancing coordination and promoting the imple-18
mentation of a whole-of-government approach among the 19
relevant Federal departments and agencies undertaking 20
efforts to— 21
(1) promote good governance in foreign coun-22
tries; and 23
(2) enhance the ability of such countries— 24
(A) to combat public corruption; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
•HR 385 IH
(B) to develop and implement corruption 1
risk assessment tools and mitigation strategies. 2
(c) T
RAINING.—The Secretary of State shall imple-3
ment appropriate training for anti-corruption points of 4
contact designated under subsection (a). 5
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Feb 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS