The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (Parquet National Financier – PNF) and the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (Ministère Public de la Confédération – MPC) have reiterated their commitment to the fight against transnational bribery and corruption and adopted a Founding Statement that provides for the establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Task Force (hereinafter, the Task Force).

The functions of the Task Force will include:

• Enhanced collective effort of the bodies signatories in preventing and combating bribery and corruption, including operative collaboration and facilitation of joint work on complex cases;
• Regular exchange of best practices, knowledge and expertise, as well as insight and strategy in the investigation of offences and crucial operative data;
• Development of proposals for cooperation in investigation and prosecution.

Other bodies involved in combating transnational bribery and corruption can be invited to join the Task Force upon agreement of the active members.

Jean-François Bohnert, head of the PNF pointed out in his statement that the establishment of the Task Force was a result of close cooperation among the countries facilitating effective liability of the corrupt lasting for over a decade. For example, the 2020 joint investigation by the SFO and the PNF resulted in holding the French and Dutch company Airbus liable by the French, British and US authorities on the accusations of bribery of officials in 16 different countries in 2004-2016; Airbus paid record sanctions of $3.6 billion most of which, $2 billion, went to France.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing changes of enforcement of extraterritorial anti-corruption legislation by the United States, some experts believe that the establishment of such a body is a response to the changing priorities of the current American leadership in countering transnational bribery and show an increased attention of the European law enforcement to holding certain persons and organisations liable for corruption, which is expected to result in greater effectiveness of cross-border investigation and prosecution.

At the same time, there are doubts that the Task Force that is being created will actually be efficient. For example, the lack of information about the mechanisms of interaction and allocation of resources and the scope of functions of the body raises questions about its actual operation. Experts stress that it is necessary to address a number of important issues, including increasing the number of the member states of the Task Force, clarifying the cooperation strategy, putting domestic policies in line with the international standards, ensuring adequate allocation of resources and a high level of transparency of the Task Force in order to ensure that it is
effective – the establishment of such a structure without these prerequisites runs the risk of remaining a mere symbolic gesture.