By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
U.S. ATTORNEY General Pam Bondi has disbanded the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) anti-corruption task force, according to reports.
The Trump administration will redirect seized funds to build detention centers in Texas and Guantanamo Bay, according to Project Brazen.
In an email to DOJ employees, Bondi announced the immediate closure of the Kleptocracy Initiative, its KleptoCapture Task Force, and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. She described the move as part of implementing Trump’s executive order on designating cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorist groups.
Previously, seized funds were returned to victim countries. However, Project Brazen reported that the Trump administration plans to use the multi-billion dollar forfeiture fund— which includes $1.4 billion recovered in the 1MDB scandal— to construct domestic detention centers.
The sudden dissolution of the task force has caused uncertainty within the DOJ, leaving ongoing cases in limbo. “This effectively neuters the entire anti-corruption apparatus of the United States government,” a DOJ veteran told the Latin Times.
ESTABLISHEMENT
Created in 2010 to track down assets linked to international corruption, the Kleptocracy Initiative has pursued Russian oligarchs, Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, and the families of former South Korean president Chun Doo Hwan.
Its most notable achievement came in 2016 when it seized over US$1 billion in assets that US prosecutors alleged were purchased with misappropriated 1MDB funds.
The seizure was the largest of its kind by the US, with former US attorney general Jeff Sessions describing the 1MDB case as “kleptocracy at its worst”.
The DOJ’s strength has been in its ability to prosecute financial crimes involving the use of US dollars or the US financial system.
The closure of the initiative raises concerns that it could embolden corrupt foreign leaders and facilitate the movement of illicit funds, which had come under increasing scrutiny by US authorities in recent years.
CALLS FOR REINSTATEMENT
In a statement, Transparency International U.S Executive Director Gary Kalman said the elimination of the KleptoCapture Task Force and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative will “significantly diminish the U.S.’s ability to counter the transnational corruption”.
“These anti-kleptocracy initiatives have been instrumental in U.S. efforts to enforce and ensure effective impacts of our sanctions, for example,” he said.
“They have led to the identification, freezing, and seizing of billions of dollars controlled by supporters of America’s adversaries. In particular, the effectiveness of new and more comprehensive sanctions on Iran will rely on the ability of the Justice Department and other partners to counter financial secrecy and track the illicit finances that are moved around the world.
“For these reasons, we strongly urge the Attorney General to reconsider these decisions and to reinstitute both initiatives.”
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