Arbitration and Corruption

Book excerpt: Corruption is one of the main obstacles to sustainable development and has a significant negative impact on a country’s productivity. In this book, which reproduces the transcribed presentations and lively discussions at the 2019 Annual Conference of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA), four panels including internationally known arbitration practitioners, criminal lawyers and accountants exchange views on the causes, costs, and impacts of corruption not only on society but also on the arbitral process and the arbitral profession. Among the many facets of corruption, the contributors address the following: legal framework of corruption and applicable law; cost of corruption from an economic perspective; jurisdiction and the arbitrability of issues of corruption; aspects of corruption that are specific to arbitration in specific business sectors; cases involving corrupt arbitrators, experts, and witnesses; establishing correctness or incorrectness of suspicion of corruption; bringing issues of corruption before the parties; and judicial scrutiny of corruption-tainted arbitral awards at the setting aside and enforcement stage. The authors, all of them prominent in representing the full range of business sectors active in international arbitration, provide matchless practical guidance in dealing with challenges associated with corruption in arbitration. Among much else, they deal with ‘red flags’ likely to indicate suspicious relationships, effective strategies to employ when confronted with a corruption-tainted contract and reporting suspicion of corruption and the related risk of personal liability. All of this invaluable material will be greatly appreciated by practising arbitrators, corporate counsel, arbitration institutions, and concerned academics.