Entry Sanctions as an Anti-corruption Policy

Abstract

The previous chapter has described how the US has used entry bans as a tool of anti-corruption enforcement and how this policy has been endorsed internationally. This chapter seeks to offer a holistic appraisal of the use of entry bans as an anti-corruption policy. It discusses what corruption is, how the line between corrupt and legitimate conduct is drawn in borderline scenarios, what is bad about corruption, and what the implications of grand corruption are. The chapter proceeds to examine existing international policies that address corruption, namely the criminalisation of foreign bribery and anti-money laundering laws. Turning then to anti-corruption entry sanctions, this chapter looks at why states counteract foreign corruption at all and what purposes denial of entry to persons suspected of corruption can have. The analysis in this chapter is helpful for identifying the purpose(s) behind anti-corruption entry sanctions and establishing whether they amount to punitive and potentially criminal measures. If they do, then criminal procedural guarantees under international human rights law apply, including the presumption of innocence and the prohibition of retroactive punishment.