INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It is with pride that the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crimeand the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) offers to the international community the Resource
Material Series No. 77.
This volume contains the work produced in the 138th International Senior Seminar which wasconducted from 17 January to 15 February 2008. The main theme of the 138th Seminar was“Effective Legal and Practical Measures for Combating Corruption: A Criminal Justice Response”.
Corruption poses a serious threat to the stability and security of societies, particularly whencorrupt practices prevail in the public sphere. Illegal diversion of scarce resources adversely affects
the quality and quantity of basic services provided to citizens, and jeopardizes a State’s sustainableeconomic, social and political development. It discourages economic investment, and breeds
feelings of distrust and unfairness towards the public authorities and amongst private businesses.
In short, corruption undermines the values of democracy, justice and the rule of law, and may
ultimately disrupt the foundation of a State.
Globalization in the commercial sphere has brought about the internationalization of corruption,
thus making the problem even more complex. Bearing in mind the enormous negative impact ofcorruption and its increasing transnational aspects, the international community recognizes theimportance of tackling this phenomenon collectively at an international level. Since the mid-1990s,
several multilateral instruments against corruption have been adopted, the most important being
the adoption on 31 October 2003 by the UN General Assembly of the United Nations Convention
against Corruption (hereinafter referred to as “UNCAC” or the “Convention”), whereby setting a
new benchmark for this global issue. The UNCAC entered into force on 14 December 2005 and asof February 2009, more than 130 states have become parties to the Convention and many others
are going through the ratification process. In addition, mindful of the links between transnationalorganized groups and corruption, corruption provisions were stipulated in the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime adopted in November 2000.
Needless to say, the role of the criminal justice system is crucial in the fight against corruption.
Successful detection, investigation, prosecution, adjudication and punishment of corrupt offenderscontributes greatly to the prevention and eradication of corruption. Also, suppression from thefinancial point of view, through depriving the offenders completely of crime proceeds by means ofconfiscation, is necessary and quite effective as a deterrent.
However, these are not easy tasks to accomplish. First, corruption is normally committed by avery limited number of consensual parties to their mutual satisfaction. Therefore, it is very difficult
for the criminal justice authorities to obtain information on corruption allegations and toinvestigate them. Second, since those involved in corruption are often powerful, for example, highranking officials, politicians or rich businessmen, and frequently try to jeopardize criminal
proceedings by using their influence to tamper with witnesses and evidence, or bribe, or put
pressure on, criminal justice personnel. Third, as corruption and subsequent laundering ofproceeds frequently involve sophisticated methods to disguise illegal transactions, it is necessary
to have highly skilled investigators to identify, trace, freeze and confiscate the crime proceeds.
Fourth, increased transnational elements in corrupt practices and subsequent laundering of crime
proceeds have made these tasks more complex and difficult, due to national laws not being
updated, jurisdictional problems and the differences in the criminal justice systems and legislation.
In this regard, the UNCAC introduces a comprehensive set of standards, measures and rulesthat States Parties can apply to strengthen the legal and regulatory regimes to fight corruption.
Once the measures stipulated in the Convention are fully implemented, criminal justice authorities
will be empowered with useful legal weapons to detect, investigate, prosecute, adjudicate andv

punish corrupt offenders and to confiscate illegal benefits and return them to their legitimate
owners. In addition, where there is an international element, international co-operation between
States Parties will be enhanced. This should make it much more difficult for offenders to takeadvantage of the difficulties inherent in the investigation, prosecution, etc. of cases involving
several jurisdictions.
UNAFEI, as a regional institute of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Programme Network, decided to hold this Seminar in order to review each country’s criminal
justice system, and explore how it could be strengthened, with special attention to the UNCAC.
In this issue, in regard to the 138th Seminar, papers contributed by visiting experts, selectedindividual presentation papers from among the participants, and the Reports of the Seminar arepublished. I regret that not all the papers submitted by the Seminar participants could be published.
I would like to pay tribute to the contributions of the Government of Japan, particularly theMinistry of Justice, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Asia Crime Prevention
Foundation for providing indispensable and unwavering support to UNAFEI’s international training
programmes.
Finally I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all who so unselfishly assisted in thepublication of this series; in particular, the editor of Resource Material Series No. 77, Ms. GraceLord.
March 2009

Keiichi Aizawa
Director of UNAFEIvi