II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1309 

To identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish a tiered system 

of countries with respect to levels of corruption by their governments 

and their efforts to combat such corruption, and to assess United States 

assistance to designated countries in order to advance anti-corruption 

efforts in those countries and better serve United States taxpayers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 2, 2019 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish 

a tiered system of countries with respect to levels of 

corruption by their governments and their efforts to combat such corruption, and to assess United States assistance to designated countries in order to advance anticorruption efforts in those countries and better serve 

United States taxpayers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Global Cor3 ruption Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com8 mittees’’ means— 

9 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

10 the Senate; 

11 (B) the Committee on Armed Services of 

12 the Senate; 

13 (C) the Committee on Appropriations of 

14 the Senate; 

15 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

16 the House of Representatives; 

17 (E) the Committee on Armed Services of 

18 the House of Representatives; and 

19 (F) the Committee on Appropriations of 

20 the House of Representatives. 

21 (2) CORRUPT ACTOR.—The term ‘‘corrupt 

22 actor’’ means— 

23 (A) any foreign person or entity that is a 

24 government official or government entity re25 sponsible for, or complicit in, an act of corrup26 tion; and 


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1 (B) any company, in which a person or en2 tity described in subparagraph (A) has a sig3 nificant stake, which is responsible for, or 

4 complicit in, an act of corruption. 

5 (3) CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘corruption’’ 

6 means the exercise of public power for private gain, 

7 including by bribery, nepotism, fraud, or embezzle8 ment. 

9 (4) FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘foreign 

10 assistance’’ means assistance made available 

11 under— 

12 (A) the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

13 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.); 

14 (B) the Arms Export Control Act (22 

15 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.); or 

16 (C) title 10, United States Code. 

17 (5) GRAND CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘grand 

18 corruption’’ means corruption committed at a high 

19 level of government that— 

20 (A) distorts policies or the central func21 tioning of the country; and 

22 (B) enables leaders to benefit at the ex23 pense of the public good. 

24 (6) PETTY CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘petty cor25 ruption’’ means the abuse of entrusted power by 


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1 low- or mid-level public officials in their interactions 

2 with ordinary citizens. 

3 SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF TIERED RANKING LIST. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall an5 nually publish, on a publicly accessible website, a tiered 

6 ranking of all foreign countries. 

7 (b) TIER 1 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 

8 as a tier 1 country in the ranking published under sub9 section (a) if the government of such country is complying 

10 with the minimum standards set forth in section 4. 

11 (c) TIER 2 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 

12 as a tier 2 country in the ranking published under sub13 section (a) if the government of such country is making 

14 efforts to comply with the minimum standards set forth 

15 in section 4, but is not achieving the requisite level of com16 pliance to be ranked as a tier 1 country. 

17 (d) TIER 3 COUNTRIES.—A country shall be ranked 

18 as a tier 3 country in the ranking published under sub19 section (a) if the government of such country is making 

20 de minimis or no efforts to comply with the minimum 

21 standards set forth in section 4. 


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1 SEC. 4. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF 

2 CORRUPTION AND ASSESSMENT OF EFFORTS 

3 TO COMBAT CORRUPTION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The government of a country is 

5 complying with the minimum standards for the elimi6 nation of corruption if the government— 

7 (1) has enacted laws and established govern8 ment structures, policies, and practices that prohibit 

9 corruption, including grand corruption and petty 

10 corruption; 

11 (2) enforces the laws described in paragraph (1) 

12 by punishing any person who is found, through a 

13 fair judicial process, to have violated such laws; 

14 (3) prescribes punishment for grand corruption 

15 that is commensurate with the punishment pre16 scribed for serious crimes; 

17 (4) prescribes punishment for petty corruption 

18 that— 

19 (A) provides a sufficiently stringent deter20 rent; and 

21 (B) adequately reflects the nature of the 

22 offense; and 

23 (5) is making serious and sustained efforts to 

24 eliminate corruption. 

25 (b) FACTORS FOR ASSESSING GOVERNMENT EF26 FORTS TO COMBAT CORRUPTION.—In determining whethVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 May 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1309.IS S1309

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1 er a government is making serious and sustained efforts 

2 to eliminate corruption, the Secretary of State shall con3 sider— 

4 (1) whether the government of the country vig5 orously investigates and prosecutes acts of corrup6 tion and convicts and sentences persons responsible 

7 for such acts that take place wholly or partly within 

8 such country, including, as appropriate, requiring in9 carceration of individuals convicted of such acts; 

10 (2) whether the government of the country vig11 orously investigates, prosecutes, convicts, and sen12 tences public officials who participate in or facilitate 

13 corruption, including nationals of the country who 

14 are deployed in foreign military assignments, trade 

15 delegations abroad, or other similar missions, who 

16 engage in or facilitate severe forms of corruption; 

17 (3) whether the government of the country has 

18 adopted measures to prevent corruption, such as 

19 measures to inform and educate the public, including 

20 potential victims, about the causes and consequences 

21 of corruption; 

22 (4) what steps the government of the country 

23 has taken to prohibit government officials from par24 ticipating in, facilitating, or condoning corruption, 


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1 including the investigation, prosecution, and convic2 tion of such officials; 

3 (5) the extent to which the country provides ac4 cess, or, as appropriate, makes adequate resources 

5 available, to civil society organizations and other in6 stitutions to combat corruption, including reporting, 

7 investigating, and monitoring; 

8 (6) whether an independent judiciary or judicial 

9 body in the country responsible for, and effectively 

10 capable of, deciding corruption cases impartially, on 

11 the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, 

12 without any restrictions, improper influences, in13 ducements, pressures, threats, or interferences (di14 rect or indirect) from any quarter or for any reason; 

15 (7) whether the government of the country is 

16 assisting in international investigations of 

17 transnational corruption networks and in other coop18 erative efforts to combat grand corruption, including 

19 cooperating with the governments of other countries 

20 to extradite corrupt actors; 

21 (8) whether the government of the country rec22 ognizes the rights of victims of corruption, ensures 

23 their access to justice, and takes steps to prevent 

24 victims from being further victimized or persecuted 

25 by corrupt actors, government officials, or others; 


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1 (9) whether the government of the country re2 frains from prosecuting victims of corruption or 

3 whistleblowers due to such persons having assisted 

4 in exposing corruption, and refrains from other dis5 criminatory treatment of such persons; and 

6 (10) such other information relating to corrup7 tion as the Secretary of State considers appropriate. 

8 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after pub10 lishing the report required under section 3(a), and prior 

11 to obligation by any United States agency of foreign as12 sistance to the government of a country ranked as a tier 

13 3 country under section 3(d), the Secretary of State, in 

14 coordination with the Administrator of the United States 

15 Agency for International Development (referred to in this 

16 Act as the ‘‘USAID Administrator’’) and the Secretary 

17 of Defense, as appropriate, shall— 

18 (1) conduct a corruption risk assessment and 

19 create a corruption mitigation strategy for all United 

20 States foreign assistance programs to that country; 

21 (2) require the inclusion of anti-corruption 

22 clauses for all foreign assistance contracts, grants, 

23 and cooperative agreements, which allow for the ter24 mination of the contract, grant, or cooperative 


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1 agreement without penalty if credible indicators of 

2 corruption are discovered; 

3 (3) require the inclusion of appropriate 

4 clawback clauses for all foreign assistance contracts, 

5 grants, and cooperative agreements to recover 

6 United States taxpayer funds that have been mis7 appropriated from the prime contractor, grantee, or 

8 cooperative agreement participant through corrup9 tion; 

10 (4) require the disclosure of the beneficial own11 ership of all contractors, subcontractors, grantees, 

12 cooperative agreement participants, and other orga13 nizations receiving funding from the United States 

14 Government for foreign assistance programs; and 

15 (5) establish a mechanism for investigating alle16 gations of misappropriated foreign assistance funds 

17 or equipment. 

18 (b) EXCEPTIONS AND WAIVER.— 

19 (1) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not 

20 apply to humanitarian assistance, disaster assist21 ance, or assistance to combat corruption. 

22 (2) WAIVER.—The Secretary of State, on a pro23 gram-by-program basis, may waive the requirement 

24 to delay foreign assistance under subsection (a) if 

25 the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate 


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1 congressional committees that such waiver is impor2 tant to the national security interests of the United 

3 States. 

4 SEC. 6. RESOURCES AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

5 (a) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 

7 submit an annual report to the appropriate congres8 sional committees that outlines the resources needed 

9 to meet the objectives and reports under sections 3 

10 through 5, including— 

11 (A) intelligence data collection needs; 

12 (B) personnel needs; 

13 (C) information technology requirements; 

14 and 

15 (D) a description of the bureaucratic struc16 ture of the offices within the Department of 

17 State and the United States Agency for Inter18 national Development (‘‘USAID’’) that are en19 gaged in anti-corruption activities. 

20 (2) FORM.—The report submitted under para21 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

22 but may include a classified annex. 

23 (b) ONLINE PLATFORM.—The Secretary of State and 

24 the USAID Administrator shall consolidate existing reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 May 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1309.IS S1309

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1 ports with anti-corruption components into one online, 

2 public platform, which shall— 

3 (1) include— 

4 (A) the Human Rights Report; 

5 (B) the Fiscal Transparency Report; 

6 (C) the Investment Climate Statement re7 ports; 

8 (D) the International Narcotics Control 

9 Strategy Report; and 

10 (E) any other relevant public reports; and 

11 (2) link to third-party indicators used by the 

12 United States Government to inform policy and pro13 gramming, such as— 

14 (A) the World Bank’s Control of Corrup15 tion Indicator; 

16 (B) the World Bank’s Actionable Govern17 ance Index Data Portal; 

18 (C) the International Finance Corpora19 tion’s Doing Business surveys; 

20 (D) the International Budget Partnership’s 

21 Open Budget Index; 

22 (E) the Global Integrity Index; and 

23 (F) multilateral peer review anti-corruption 

24 compliance mechanisms, such as the 

25 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 


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1 Development’s Working Group on Bribery in 

2 International Business Transactions and the 

3 United Nations Convention Against Corruption, 

4 done at New York October 31, 2003, to further 

5 highlight expert international views on country 

6 challenges and country efforts. 

7 (c) TRAINING.—To increase the ability of Depart8 ment of State and USAID personnel to support anti-cor9 ruption as a foreign policy and development priority, and 

10 strengthen their ability to design, implement, and evaluate 

11 more effective anti-corruption programming around the 

12 world, including enhancing skills to better evaluate and 

13 mitigate corruption risks in assistance programs, the Sec14 retary of State and the USAID Administrator shall incor15 porate anti-corruption components into existing Foreign 

16 Service and Civil Service training courses. 

Æ 


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