ASSESSING THE EFFICACY OFTHE UNITED NATIONS LEGAL CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION: ASSETS RECOVERY IN PERSPECTIVE

Out of the $4 trillion spent on governmentprocurement annually across the globe, approximately $400 billion is siphoned off usually in the formof bribe. Some of these illegal gainsor assets are oftenlaundered thus making their recovery a herculean task. The objective of this papertherefore is to assess the efficacy of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) in combating corruption through the recovery of such assets with a view to making recommendation to enhance assets recovery efforts across the globe. Doctrinal method is adopted for this research.Accordingly, material from primary sources such asthe relevant provision of UNCAC and judicialdecisions on assets recovery were analyzed. Secondary sources such as books and journal were also analyzed. It was found that a major challenge to effective recovery of assets through UNCAC is the differences inlegalsystems. For instance, a civil law country that seeks to recover assets from common law jurisdictionsoften face obstacles due to high evidentiary requirements. Secondly,the conditions for tracing.assets differ. In some jurisdictions, the plainuff must show a “clear link” between his assets and the one in the hands of the wrongdoer, while in other jurisdictions, the requirement of “clear link” is not always followed.Article 46 of UNCAC.- has added ‘to the problem byallowing States to decline request in absence of reciprocity and dual criminality.What constitute crime differs from country to country, so there is always the tendency that a request may be declined on this basis. Thirdly, Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) through Non-Conviction Based (NCB)proceeding can only be responded to by States that have NCB legislation. Finally, even where the above hurdles have been crossed, return of assets to their owners often takes a long time. In view of this therefore, it has become imperative to harmonize or provide uniform standards that would be applicable to all the signatories to the Convention. Harmonization of the substantive and procedural aspects of assets recovery would make it easier for authorities in common law jurisdiction to trace, freeze and confiscate assets in civil law countries and vice versa. It would also ease the requirement of dual criminality, the principle of reciprocity and “clear link” which have made indirect and direct recovery very difficult.