On 13 June 2024, the International Bar Association (IBA) Anti-corruption conference’s 10th panel was held in Paris. The discussion focused on the future International Anti-corruption Court (IACC).

Report:

The participants discussed the activity of the Integrity Initiatives International, an NGO dedicated to strengthening the enforcement of criminal law, and more specifically effort towards the establishment of the IACC.

Judge Mark Wolf indicated that more than 350 world leaders, such as former and current Presidents, Nobel laureates, have declared, publicly or privately, their support for the creation of the IACC. He stated that the IACC would strengthen the enforcement and uniformization of the laws required by the United Union Convention Against Corruption and allow the prosecution of high officials, those who conspire with them, and all facilitators such as lawyers, bankers, real estate’s agents.

Serena Ibrahim emphasized her willingness to leverage youth talents and social innovation to fight and develop more effective and creative anti-corruption solutions. She explained that to do so, the IACC had to be created and recognized by the international judicial system to enable it to hold kleptocrats accountable when national judicial systems cannot or refuse to act.

Charles Adeogun-Phillips addressed corruption in Africa, how corrupt leaders would react to the creation of the IACC, as well as the court’s challenges, particularly the repatriation of misappropriated funds. He highlighted that a court would have to include two chambers, one criminal and one dedicated to assets with the use of non-conviction-based asset forfeiture programs. He also highlighted the fact that the IACC should not be modeled on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and should be funded by stolen funds.

Susan Lamb explained that the IACC, as the ICC, will be a safety net when the anticorruption mechanisms of accountability at national and regional levels fail. To this end, several committees have been created with 70 experts from a wide geographic area and a mix of specializations, including legal tradition, to have a 360-degree view of the corruption issue. She mentioned the (i) core crimes committee dedicated to identifying the crime to be prosecuted by the court, (ii) the court management committee, (iii) a third committee focused on victims, witnesses and whistleblowers, (iv) a committee dedicated to asset freezing and recovery, (v) and a procedural committee. Susan Lamb indicated that the following step will be to condense the work of the five committee to draft the statute of the IACC.

Finally, Judge Mark Wolf explained that the IACC will represent a preventive measure to diminish the sense of impunity of kleptocrats and will enable immunity to be waived at an international level. He pointed out that if countries ruled by kleptocrats do not join the IACC, it will still be able to act because of misappropriated funds placed in member countries. Judge Mark Wolf also raised the enforcement issue and relied on the Al-Bashir case (South-Africa) as an example to explain that the obligation to surrender a convicted person to the ICC is superior to national immunity. He added that kleptocrats do not invest their money abroad to stay in their own country.

Speakers:

The panel included:

• Serena Ibrahim, board member of Integrity Initiatives International and founder and executive Director of Youth Against Corruption, from Beirut, Lebanon;
• Charles Adeogun-Phillips, vice-chair of Integrity Initiatives International, former head of special investigations at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and Partner at Charles Anthony (lawyers) LPP, from Lagos, Nigeria;
• Justice Susan Lamb, IACC treaty advisor committee and former Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize;
• and Judge Mark Wolf, Chair of Integrity Initiatives International and Senior US District Judge from Boston, USA.

The panel was moderated by Stéphane de Navacelle, managing partner of Navacelle (Paris), IBA Anti-corruption committee regional representative for Western Europe.