Glossary term
United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
Subject: Financial Crime, Bribery and Corruption
Also known as: UN Convention against Corruption, Merida Convention
UNCAC is the first legally binding global anti-corruption treaty, adopted by the United Nations in 2003, setting standards on prevention, criminalisation, international cooperation and the return of stolen assets.
Explanation
The Convention has four pillars. Prevention covers codes of conduct, public procurement, transparency in public finance and the role of the private sector and civil society. Criminalisation asks states to make offences of bribery of national and foreign officials, embezzlement, trading in influence, abuse of office, illicit enrichment (as an option) and laundering of proceeds. International cooperation covers extradition, mutual legal assistance and joint investigation. Asset recovery, one of its most distinctive features, sets out how stolen funds may be traced, frozen and returned to the country they were taken from. Nearly every country is a party. A peer review mechanism examines how each state applies it. Where the OECD convention is narrow and strict, UNCAC is broad, and many national laws use it as their base. Where a bank or lawyer needs one reference for what counts as corruption, this is the text they point to.
Example
A government finds that a former minister moved stolen funds into bank accounts and property in two other countries. Using UNCAC's cooperation and asset recovery provisions, it sends mutual legal assistance requests. The other countries freeze the accounts, a court confirms the funds are proceeds of corruption, and an agreement returns most of the money to the victim state for public projects.
Not to be confused with
- OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
- The OECD treaty targets foreign bribery by payers and has a stricter review. UNCAC is wider, covering many offences, prevention and asset return.