Under Secretary Zeya’s Remarks at the Summit for Democracy Day 2 Anti-Corruption Cohorts Event

Thank you, Renee.  Good morning, everyone, and good afternoon and good evening to those joining online from across the globe.  It is a pleasure to be here with you all reflecting on the dynamic contributions the three anti-corruption democracy cohorts have made to the Summit for Democracy.  As someone who has been engaged in the Summit from its very earliest days, first leading the U.S. planning team and more recently as a partner and participant under the Republic of Korea’s leadership this past year, I am so proud to see how the cohorts have taken off.  They embody the ideals we had in mind when we launched this process three years ago – bringing together bright minds from across sectors and around the world to tackle some of the stickiest challenges and most exciting opportunities facing democracies.  They have created networks to support mutual learning and, most importantly, to encourage one another toward concrete action.  

Corruption is an attack on the very legitimacy of governments, driving a rift between citizens and the state that authoritarians and violent extremists can exploit.  It is a vexing problem often hiding in shadows and operating under layers of secrecy.  It warps incentive structures so that those who engage in corrupt acts often have substantial resources to entrench the systems that allow them to benefit from their misdeeds.  At the same time, corruption can deny resources to those institutions working to expose and pursue accountability for corrupt acts.  And so, the fight against corruption won’t be won by governments and anti-corruption authorities alone, civil society – and youth leaders among them – have a critical role to play.  

The overarching theme of this year’s Summit – Democracy for Future Generations – is especially salient because young people know that corruption will bankrupt their future.   That is why young people are at the forefront of pushing all of us to be more transparent, more accountable, and more responsive to public needs.  Civil society and young people know all too well the impact of corruption on their daily lives, and they are a blossoming hothouse of new ideas in the fight against corruption.   

The Biden Administration has made clear from day one that we simply cannot deliver for our people and all people, including youth, without tackling global corruption.  Democratic governance depends on the trust and participation of citizenry and their faith in the electoral process, and few things poison trust in government more than corruption.  Furthermore, corruption disproportionately affects underrepresented and marginalized groups, so countering corruption creates more pathways for fair and equitable access to resources and opportunities. Thankfully this trio of cohorts has certainly not shied away from such sticky challenges.   

First, the cohort led by the Government of Bulgaria, the Basel Institute on Governance, and the Center for the Study of Democracy focused on anti-corruption policies as a boon to national security, a proposition that the United States emphatically supports.  When corrupt actors undermine domestic stability or external states choose to weaponize existing corruption to advance their foreign policy objectives – the best antidote is promoting transparency and fairness, adopting good and responsive governance, and exposing and fighting corruption.  Doing so not only protects our own systems, but it pushes back on authoritarian or criminal actors who seek to reshape countries or even the world order to their own advantage.  

Second, the Government of Moldova, the Basel Institute, and Transparency International-led cohort strengthened international cooperation to fight corruption, another absolutely key priority.  Corruption does not respect national boundaries, and so our solutions must also cross borders.  We must learn from one another, exchange information and experiences, and work together to trace the proceeds of corruption and increase asset recovery.  Building off the successful Global Forum on Asset Recovery in 2017, last year the United States and partners launched the GFAR Action Series to bring together law enforcement practitioners to advance cross-border asset recovery cases affecting eight “priority” countries.  In December, the GFAR Action Series brought together practitioners from 20 jurisdictions for over 50 bilateral case coordination meetings during the UNCAC Conference of the States Parties.  We look forward to seeing further progress this year and beyond.       

Third and finally, the United States has been proud to lead, jointly with the Brookings Institution and the Open Government Partnership, a cohort promoting financial transparency and integrity.  We know a thing or two about how corrupt actors work.  First, we know they often abuse public procurement processes to overcharge and under-deliver.  Their next step is to move their ill-gotten gains through opaque layers of shell companies and other corporate vehicles.  Step three relies on networks of complicit professional service providers to move and launder the proceeds of their corrupt acts, allowing them to freely enjoy the proceeds of their crimes wherever they choose.  So, we decided to use what we’ve learned to disrupt this process at each stage.   

The FTI cohort, as we call it, set three focus areas early on: procurement transparency, beneficial ownership reform, and tackling the enablers of corruption.  Over the past year and a half, the cohort has elevated the conversation in each of these three areas, bringing together dozens of representatives of governments and organizations across civil society, academia, and industry to discuss and exchange lessons learned and challenges.  We’ve also created guidance documents summarizing key findings, highlighting useful resources, and offering practical considerations for governments looking to take on each of these areas of reform.  These toolkits emphasize opportunities to work alongside civil society to foster transparency, accountability, and higher standards of integrity.  I would encourage you to consult these outcome documents as a component of our ever-striving quest to learn from and build off one another’s work.   

The work achieved by these three cohorts directly informs our efforts in other forums.  For the FTI cohort specifically, we have decided to integrate its work fully into other venues like OGP, the UNCAC Conference of States Parties, and regional multilateral bodies, to build international consensus among a wider audience, and to support our partners around the world to build the capacity and systems they need to develop effective beneficial ownership registries, create effective procurement processes that maximize service delivery to citizens and reduce opportunities for corruption, and understand and begin to tackle the issue of enablers of corruption.   

We are clear eyed about the mountain of work yet to be done in each of the three cohorts and on the part of the U.S. government, we are committed to keeping at it.  We will continue to climb that mountain and chip away at the foundation corrupt actors use to fund their nefarious deeds.  We’ve also made financial transparency and integrity a key component of U.S. engagement in other bodies.  In particular, the United States is honored to serve as president of the Conference of the States Parties of the UN Convention against Corruption, where we have prioritized FTI issues for our two-year term as president.  We are also advancing FTI themes through our support to the OECD’s Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum, and through our partnership with TI on the International Anti-Corruption Conference series.   

I know our co-leads are just as committed to continuing their work on these issues, including via OGP’s Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group and Procurement Network, and Brookings’ Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security project.  I am excited to see where this work will take us and I am so pleased that we are making this journey together. Thank you again to government, civil society, and intergovernmental partners leading the way, which brings us closer to a future in which democratic governments thrive and provide for their people, free of the scourge of corruption.  

Thank you.