The Helsinki Commission and the leaders of the anti-kleptocratic election conference send a letter to the leaders requesting immediate consideration of the anti-kleptocracy law in response to Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine
WASHINGTON – Steve Cohen, for the President of the Helsinki Commission, Joe Wilson (SC-02), for the Co-Presidents of the Counter-Kleptocracy Caucus (NJ-07), John Curtis (UT-03) and Richard Hudson, for the Commission NC-08), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Ruben Gallego (AZ-07) and Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05), as well as MarĂa Salazar (FL-27) and Hill (AR-02) from France. , in which they ask that they immediately consider the Counter-Kleptocracy Act in order to incur additional costs to Putin’s kleptocratic regime in response to his war of aggression against Ukraine.
“Corruption is the lifeblood of Putin’s regime and the system he wants to take away. That is what he is doing now by waging a war of aggression against Ukraine and trying to wipe this democracy off the map to replace it with its own dependent kleptocracy. The Counter-Kleptocracy Act is the answer. “
See full letter here.
The Counter-Kleptocracy Act is a collection of anti-corruption laws that include:
- Foreign Corruption Liability Act – allows a visa ban for foreigners who exercise state power against corruption and appoint them publicly
- Law on Prevention of Foreign Blackmail – criminalizes bribery claims by foreign authorities
- Golden Visa Accountability Act – Create a U.S.-led visa denial database to prevent foreign corrupt authorities from misusing investor visas to move around the world freely and hidden and to enjoy misappropriated income.
- The Justice for Victims of Kleptocracy Act – Creates a public DOJ website listing the amount of money “stolen from the peoples” and “recovered by the United States” in each country (e.g., the people of Russia or the people of Ukraine).
- Revealing and Explaining Visa Exclusions for Accountability and Legitimacy Act (REVEAL) – Allows the executive to disclose the names of human rights violators and kleptocrats who are prohibited under section 212 (a) (3) (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. “potentially serious negative foreign policy consequences”, which is an important provision for banning bad actors
- Combating Global Corruption Act – Creates a country-by-country tiered reporting requirement based on compliance with anti-corruption standards and commitments. Leadership of lower-level countries is being considered for global Magnitsky sanctions.
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