Corruption is becoming a major threat to the world. All countries of the globe are running the risks associated with it. Corrupt practices such as bribery and other abuses of public functions for private gain have been criminalised in almost all legal systems. Criminalisation of acts of corruption constitutes one of the major dimensions of the international anti-corruption instruments.
The clandestine nature of corruption crimes creates difficulties in gathering evidence for prosecution and effective implementation of the law. To overcome such problems, some indicators of corruption such as possession of property that far exceeds legitimate sources of income need to be criminalised. It is also imperative to deal with the challenges associated with such criminalisation. The international community, in combating corruption, calls upon states to outlaw and criminalise certain acts of corruption, and illicit enrichment is one of them. Since not all states of the world have criminalised illicit enrichment under the ambit of their anti-corruption legislation, this study mainly addresses the importance of its criminalisation so as to fight corruption in a broader and more effective way.
This article tries to analyse the challenges related to due process of law in the investigation and prosecution of illicit enrichment. Further, complexities associated with the process of recovering illicitly acquired assets, such as resources and expertise, as well as effective co-operation among various jurisdictions, need to be explored.
By giving special emphasis to the Ethiopian legal framework on the matter, the nature of the offence, its prosecution, and the challenges associated with recovering the proceeds of the crime, especially such proceeds as have already gone from the country, will be considered. In this regard, the effectiveness of the law in contributing towards the effort to eradicate corruption is the central point.
In addition to the law relating to the offence of illicit enrichment, the article analyses the Ethiopian anti-corruption laws and their effectiveness in combating corruption.