Date: 19 August 2019
Time: 12:30-13:30
Venue: Bergen Global, Jekteviksbakken 31
This event is part of the Bergen Exchanges 2019. For a full schedule of the week’s events, see here.
Corruption is a major impediment to sustainable development and achieving the SDGs, and still, few governments have a convincing strategy for uncovering the crime and holding perpetrators accountable. While international collaboration resulted in new laws in the early 2000s, enforcement is in a flux. Typically, cases against firms that pay bribes in international markets are concluded with a negotiated settlement in a country different from where the crime took place, often ending in a fairly low sanction compared to the gains from the crime, and no prosecution of key individuals – if there is at all an enforcement action. The bribe receivers, often high-ranking government officials and politicians, are subject to enforcement primarily in their national jurisdiction in which their influence too often shields them from investigation and prosecution. In too many countries, the justice sector, which is essential in holding perpetrators accountable, is itself susceptible to corruption, and the constitutional independence granted to courts is no guarantee against biased trial outcomes. This roundtable will discuss experiences from law enforcement in major corruption cases across a range of country contexts, and point at some promising developments.
Roundtable: Chaired by Siri Gloppen
Conversation with Tina Søreide (NHH), Jørn Jacobsen (UiB) Dan Brinks (UT Austin) tbc*