Theodore S. Greenberg

Every two seconds, across the world, an area of forest the size of a football field is clear-cut by illegal loggers. In some countries, up to 90% of all the logging taking place is illegal. Estimates suggest that this criminal activity generates approximately US $10-15 bn annually worldwide—funds that are unregulated, untaxed, and often remain in the hands of organized criminal gangs. Thus far, domestic and international efforts to curb forest crimes have focused on preventative actions, but they have had little or no significant impact. While prevention is an essential part of enforcement efforts to tackle illegal logging, it has not halted the rapid disappearance of the world’s old-growth trees. New ideas and strategies are needed to preserve what is left of forests.

In recent years, revelations of grand corruption and the plunder of state assets have led to greater scrutiny of financial relationships with politically exposed persons (PEPs) - senior government officials, family members and close associates - and potential money laundering risks associated with these customers. Notwithstanding the efforts by many financial institutions and regulatory authorities to prevent corrupt PEPs from entering and using the financial system to launder the proceeds of corruption, there has been an overall failure in the effective implementation of risk-based systems to detect corruption proceeds. Politically Exposed Persons: A Guide to Strengthening Preventive Measures for the Banking Sector is designed to help banks and regulatory authorities address the risks posed by PEPs and prevent corrupt PEPs from abusing domestic and international financial systems to launder the proceeds of corruption. The book provides recommendations and good practices aimed at improving compliance with international standards and increasing supervisory effectiveness. Implementation of an effective PEP regime is a critical component of the prevention and detection of transfers of proceeds of crime and, therefore, ultimately in the process of recovering these proceeds of corruption. The United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Financial Action Task Force Forty Recommendations on Money Laundering require countries to ensure that financial institutions implement systems to identify and verify PEP customers, enhance due diligence procedures at account opening, and provide ongoing monitoring of transactions. Politically Exposed Persons: A Guide to Strengthening Preventive Measures for the Banking Sector will be an important tool for individuals, governments, financial and private sector companies, and international organizations involved in developing and implementing standards aimed at fighting corruption and money laundering, and trying to recover stolen assets and the proceeds of corruption.

A practice-based guide of 36 key concepts - legal, operational, and practical - that countries can use to develop non-conviction based (NCB) forfeiture legislation that helps in combating the development problem of corruption and recovering stolen assets.