FOURTH GLOBAL FORUM ON FIGHTING CORRUPTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRASILIA 001714

SIPDIS

ALDAC

USAID FOR LAC/AA AND LAC/SAM

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD PGOV ECON BR
SUBJECT: FOURTH GLOBAL FORUM ON FIGHTING CORRUPTION
BRASILIA, BRAZIL; JUNE 7-10, 2005

REF: A. BRASILIA 1494

B. BRASILIA 1544


1. Summary. The IV Global Forum on Fighting Corruption (GF
IV): "From Words to Deeds" was held from June 7 to 10 in
Brasilia, Brazil. An estimated 1800 representatives from 103
countries including government officials and representatives
from international organizations and civil society
participated in a series of workshops, panels, and special
conferences to discuss the effectiveness of international
conventions, money laundering, public procurement,
e-government, corruption measurement, conflicts of interest,
and corruption at the local level. GF IV was organized by
the Brazilian government's Comptroller General's Office in
cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNDOC),and Brazilian NGO Transparencia Brasil. Despite the
government of Brazil's organizational and planning
shortcomings, GF IV was at the end of the day a respectable
showing - a gathering of senior government experts to push
the international anti-corruption agenda forward. The United
States effectively advanced key national security objectives
in strengthening political will globally to fight corruption.
End Summary.

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MINISTERIAL SESSIONS
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2. President Bush's Statement: GF IV provided a clear and
demonstrable commitment to support President Bush's agenda on
fighting corruption and the Bush administration's broad
foreign policy on development, security, and good governance.
On June 10, US. Ambassador to Brazil John Danilovich read a
message from President Bush to GF IV delegates during the
closing ceremony. In his message, the President indicated
that the United States would stand by nations that fight
corruption, embrace freedom, and promote the rule of law.
The President also declared that his administration is
committed to working with other partners to "deny safe haven
to the corrupt, their corrupters, and their tainted assets."
In the President's statement, Ambassador Danilovich also
reaffirmed the Bush administration's commitment to
cooperating with other countries to fight corruption and
explained that the USG will play an active role in fighting
corruption and fostering democracy through the Millennium
Challenge Account. The United States delegation achieved the
objectives it set out to accomplish at GF IV including
globalizing the President's "No Safe Haven" Initiative and
encouraging countries to sign, ratify, and implement the UN
Convention Against Corruption. Both of these objectives are
reflected in the Final GF IV Declaration.


3. President Lula's Keynote Remarks: During his opening
remarks on June 7, Brazilian President Lula da Silva used the
GF IV platform to seize the offensive in confronting
corruption scandals that plagued his administration. (Note:
Earlier that day, Lula fired a number of corrupt postal
service and Brazilian Reinsurance Institute employees.
During the final days of the conference, the treasurer of
Lula's Workers' Party (PT) was accused of buying votes in
Congress (reftels A and B). End Note). Despite corruption
allegations, Lula promised to fight corruption in Brazil and
stated that his administration would "cut its own flesh, if
necessary" to root out corruption.


4. US Head of Delegation Adolfo Franco told local daily
"Correio Brasiliense" that Lula showed his commitment to
investigating corruption allegations thoroughly, even if
those investigations included members of his own
administration or political party. US Ambassador to Brazil
Danilovich believed that Lula defined the problem of
corruption clearly during his opening remarks and showed his
personal commitment to the fight against corruption.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM WORKSHOPS AND PANELS
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5. The US delegation demonstrated the Bush administration's
high-level commitment to prevent and combat corruption to
advance its national security and foreign policy agenda;
highlighted and helped advance key administration initiatives
on fighting corruption and promoting good governance (e.g.,
the President's "No Safe Haven" policy, the G8
Anti-corruption and Transparency initiative, and the
Millennium Challenge Account); provided other governments the
experience of qualified US experts in specific measures
against corruption; assured that conference result did not
detract from US policies or positions on anti-corruption
issues also addressed in other international fora; and
conducted informal bilateral discussions with other
governments.


6. Law Enforcement: Several panels on law enforcement and
international instruments focused on the need for effective
implementation of the United Nations Convention Against
Corruption and the encouragement of developed countries to
sign and ratify it. There was also discussion on the need to
improve follow-up mechanisms on the various international
anti-corruption frameworks around the world.


7. Civil Society: On June 8, US Delegation Head and USAID
Assistant Administrator for Latin America and Caribbean
Bureau Adolfo Franco moderated the "Civil Society: Improving
Control Mechanisms workshop." Franco highlighted
anti-corruption efforts in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and Uganda.
Franco stressed the importance of NGOs, churches, and the
media, and challenged governments to improve their
relationships with these institutions. Through cooperation
with civil society institutions, Franco believed that
governments could combat corruption effectively.


8. Money Laundering: The GF IV money laundering workshop
focused on investigations into corruption during former
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's tenure. Panelists
identified asset recovery challenges and stressed the
importance of effective international cooperation during the
asset recovery phase. Panelists also stressed the importance
of developing stronger legislation and self-regulation rules
in the private sector. To safeguard assets from being
stolen, panelists suggested that governments create
country-specific trust funds with International Financial
Institutions (IFIs),establish third-party fund monitoring,
and use recovered funds to settle debts.


9. Public Procurement: The public procurement workshop
focused on the need for government procurement regimes to
ensure transparency and efficiency during the public
procurement process. Workshop participants recommended that
governments monitor drafting and contract requirements during
the public procurement process. To ensure transparency and
accountability, panelists discussed the importance of making
public procurement and government contract information
available and easily accessible to the public.


10. Measuring Corruption: The measuring corruption workshop
focused on measuring corruption accurately and improving
measurement tools such as the Corruption Perceptions Index
and the Global Integrity Report. Panelists and participants
agreed that corruption measurement tools are imprecise and
can negatively impact investment or development aid given to
developing countries. Participants also noted that
developing countries do not receive a high score on
corruption indices because they are poor, while developed
countries receive a high score by virtue of their wealth.
All panelists agreed that corruption measurement tools are
valuable in fighting corruption, however some emphasized that
corruption tools should focus on governments actions to
combat corruption.


11. Conflict of Interest: This workshop focused upon
conflict of interest codes of conduct in New York City,
Canada, and Argentina. New York City's conflict of interest
system relies on code compliance, effective implementation,
and code monitoring. Canada allows a conflict of interest
agency to monitor high level public employees to ensure
recusal. In Argentina, recent attempts to establish a
federal conflict of interest system led to poor public
confidence in government officials because a number of public
officials do not report conflict of interest cases to local
authorities. The Argentine government discovered that
publishing conflict of interest information on the Internet
helped improve public confidence in local officials.


12. Improving Integrity in Border and Fiscal Agencies:
The border and fiscal agency panel was comprised of customs
administrators and tax authorities from a number of different
countries. Panelists discussed the challenges that
corruption poses in the international tax and customs arenas.
Arthur Sinai, US Customs and Border Inspection Acting
Assistant Commissioner for Management Inspections and
Integrity Assurance, represented the USG on this panel. Mr.
Sinai noted that the US Customs Agency's role has been
redefined to ensure that global security measures are being
developed and that ongoing global efforts against corruption
are not jeopardized.


13. Political Financing: Panelists focused on the high level
of distrust of political parties, especially when irregular
or illegal funding is involved. Craig Donsanto, from the US
Department of Justice, addressed the ten &building blocks8
of a good regime to combat corruption in political financing,
and explained that the USG does not follow some of these
elements due to constitutional protections of free speech.
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GF IV FINAL STATEMENT
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14. Begin Final Statement:


1. The Heads of Delegation, meeting in Brasilia, on June 7,
8, 9 and 10, 2005, for the Fourth Global Forum on Fighting
Corruption, renew, with this Declaration, their commitment to
continue working together toward the common objective of
preventing and fighting corruption.

2. To this end, they reaffirm the importance of the Global
Forums, which were developed with a view to exchange
knowledge and to promote implementation of legal instruments
against corruption.

3. Recognize that corruption is a complex economic, political
and social problem that threatens democracy, economic growth
and the rule of law, contributes, in particular, to corrupt
practices and to the spread of organized crime and terrorism
and has destructive repercussions in every sphere of our
societies. For this reason, they further underscore the
Global Forum concept as an effective platform for the
exchange of experiences and the promotion of international
cooperation aimed at confronting corruption in all of its
manifestations.

4. Within the scope of the Fourth Global Forum, based around
the theme "From Words to Deeds," the Heads of Delegation:
Reaffirm their commitment to the effective implementation of
the international anti-corruption conventions and recognize,
in particular, the importance of signing and ratifying the
United Nations Convention against Corruption;
Emphasize the need for capacity-building and the continual
improvement and enhancement of the follow-up mechanisms for
the international anti-corruption conventions in force, to
which their countries are parties;
Encourage governments to deny safe haven to corrupt persons
and entities "public and private" and their corruptly
acquired assets, and to those who corrupt them, and to
promote cooperation on extradition, mutual legal assistance
and the recovery and return of proceeds of corruption;
Underscore the contribution the Global Forums have made since
the first edition to the discussions on the prevention and
fight against corruption and promoting good governance, as
well as the culture of integrity and express their desire
that the Forum's proposals and conclusions be given practical
implementation.
Fifth Global Forum
The Heads of Delegation applaud the leadership of South
Africa in accepting to host the Fifth Global Forum on
Fighting Corruption and express their intention to cooperate
to the extent possible in the organization of the Fifth
Global Forum on Fighting Corruption.
Brasilia, June 10, 2005.
End Final Statement.

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CONCLUSION AND OVERALL ASSESSMENT
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15. Although GF IV ran smoothly, the days and months leading
up to the Forum were plagued with poor planning and a lack of
available public information. Unlike previous events that
focused on corruption internationally, GF IV focused on
Brazil, which was not surprising given the corruption
scandals at the time of the conference. Although Lula used
the GF IV platform to appear strong against corruption and
dismissed a number of low-level officials during GF IV, only
time will tell if he is serious about fighting corruption.
It will be interesting to ascertain whether the Brazilian
anti-corruption experience will be worth noting as a success
in 2007 or whether Lula's declarations during the week become
a footnote in history as an opportunity wasted to fight
corruption in Brazil.


16. Compared to past Forums, few ministers participated in
GF IV and the GOB was unable to confirm how many Ministers
would attend GF IV less than one week before it began.
Despite the Brazilian organizers' shortcomings, the US
Delegation was able to achieve its goals for the event.
President Bush's "No Safe Haven" policy is now truly global,
having been adopted by over 103 nations that attended GF IV.


17. At the conclusion of GF IV, the government of South
Africa organized in Brasilia the first series of preparatory
meetings for the Fifth Global Forum (GF V) in 2007. It is
envisaged that the South Africans will make GF V a true
ministerial again in 2007 and restore prestige to the event.
When the international community meets for GF V, the UN
Convention will also likely enter into force.

DANILOVICH