draining development.pdf - Khazar University

446 Draining Development?August 17, 2009, a magistrate in Zambia acquitted Chiluba of any wrongdoing:a finding that speaks volumes on many levels about the problemsof bringing proceedings against African leaders in their own countries.So far as is known, no monies have ever been repatriated to Zambia, and,in June 2011, Chiluba died.ConclusionThere are a number of common, not unexpected features in all thesecases, such as the use of traditional havens to incorporate offshore entitiesto hold accounts in well-established banking centers and the use ofintermediaries such as lawyers, accountants, and businessmen operatingin Europe. One notes also the complicity of the banks involved, not oneof which has, to date, been prosecuted or sued for the part they played. 33While the use of well-known banks in major banking centers mayfacilitate the recovery of funds as regulatory supervision tightens, particularlyin the areas of know your customer and increased awareness ofthe dangers posed by assisting PEPs, there remain vast lacunae. In theUnited States, these have most recently been vividly demonstrated by thework of the Levin Committee to which we refer in the introduction.It is also apparent that, while the jurisdictions in which the banksoperate have become increasingly cooperative (this is particularly true ofSwitzerland and the United Kingdom and its dependent territories, Jersey,Guernsey, and Isle of Man), serious deficiencies may still exist in thejurisprudence of these states in returning stolen assets to the peoplesfrom whom they have been taken.This has most recently been vividly demonstrated by an extraordinaryjuxtaposition of events. On January 12, 2010, the Swiss SupremeCourt ruled that over US$5.5 million in Swiss bank accounts beneficiallyowned by Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the former dictator ofHaiti, should be returned to his family. This decision overturned a lowercourt decision that had awarded the monies to charities working for thegood of the people of Haiti. The new decision was based on a statute oflimitations that had the effect of preventing the prosecution of anycrimes committed by the Duvalier clan before 2001. Within hours of thecourt’s decision, the devastating earthquake struck Haiti that killed over200,000 people. The Swiss government was appalled. “This is a public