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CASE STUDY I

  1. Concordia is a federal state in Europe. It has a ‘civil code’ system of law, similar to that of Germany. Its anti-corruption body is the Concordia Anti-Corruption Commission (“CACC”). Mr Very Rich is the Governor of Lucky State, one of Concordia's constituent states.
  1. By law, public officials in Concordia have to make declarations of their assets (and those of immediate family members) at the start and end of their term of office. It is a criminal offence to make a false declaration. Mr Rich's last asset declaration discloses domestic assets of 30,000 Euros, and no foreign assets. He answered “not applicable” to the question of whether his wife or children had any assets.
  1. The UK authorities have notified CACC that a suspicious transaction report filed by Occasionally Honest Bank plc in London has revealed that an account held by Mr Very Rich has received monthly and very substantial payments from the Lucky State Bank. These total 4.5million Euros. CACC's enquiries with Lucky State Bank have demonstrated that the payments to the London account were made from Concordia's Federal Government monthly contribution to Lucky State’s budget.
  1. Occasionally Honest Bank plc has a London address for Mr Rich. The UK authorities have discovered that the property is owned by JR Properties Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. £250,000 in cash has been seized from the property. The company owns two other substantial London properties, and has a bank account at Occasionally Honest plc with a balance of £1 million received from a variety of companies. The banking mandate was signed by Mr Rich on behalf of JR Properties.
  1. UK authorities have identified two further London properties owned by Mr Rich personally, and a separate property owned by his wife. A firm of lawyers called Quick Buck & Partners acted for both JR Properties and the Riches on their property purchases.
  1. CACC have arrested Mr Rich and charged him with theft of public funds and making a false asset declaration. He remains in custody but is seeking to challenge his arrest on the basis that he enjoys immunity from suit under Concordian law. Mr Rich's wife and family fled the country on his arrest, along with the finance minister of the state. Their whereabouts is unknown.
  1. Following Mr Rich's arrest, CACC received an anonymous tip-off that it should investigate Lucky State's relationship with Fixit Company. Subsequent investigations have shown that payments of many millions of Euroswere made by Lucky State to a Concordia registered company called Fixit Corporation under contracts for the supply of computer equipment for the Lucky State Government. It is unclear whether any computers have been delivered, or whether a limited number of computers have been delivered at inflated prices. Payments to Fixit were authorised by Mr Rich, in breach of procurement regulations, and made to accounts of Cleansing Bank plc in Switzerland and London.
  1. Cleansing's 'know your customer' information, obtained by the London Metropolitan Police,statesthat the beneficial owner of Fixit is the finance minister of Lucky State.
  1. Fixit has also received a series of substantial payments from Cheaply Cheerful plc, a UK construction company that has won a series of building projects in LuckyState. The UK Police intend to arrest the managing director of Cheaply Cheerful for bribery.

You are the CACC prosecutor:

  • What enquiries do you wish to make with other states?
  • How will you go about that?
  • What will you be requesting?