Al-Faris: Tracking and Recovering Illicit Gains from Corruption

The Conference of the Parties to the Arab Convention on Combating Corruption, at its sixth session held in Doha, adopted a resolution submitted by the State of Kuwait and drafted by the Public Authority for Combating Corruption (“Nazaha”), concerning the enhancement of beneficial ownership transparency. This marks the first draft resolution that Nazaha has prepared and submitted on behalf of Kuwait to the Conference. The resolution aims to strengthen states’ capacity to identify the individuals who own or effectively control companies, thereby limiting the use of such entities to conceal proceeds from corruption crimes. This facilitates the detection, tracing, and recovery of these funds by competent authorities, while safeguarding legitimate business activities.

Dr. Rana Al-Faris, Chairperson of the Public Authority for Combating Corruption (“Nazaha”), affirmed that the adoption of the Kuwaiti resolution represents a significant step toward enhancing Arab cooperation in confronting methods used to conceal the identity of beneficial owners and to disguise proceeds from corruption crimes. Al-Faris stated, “Knowing who owns or effectively controls companies enhances transparency, limits the possibility of their use to conceal proceeds from corruption crimes, and assists competent authorities in detecting, tracing, and recovering such funds.” She added that Kuwait strove, in drafting the resolution, to achieve a balance between promoting integrity and transparency on one hand, and protecting legitimate business activities and economic interests on the other, in alignment with the Arab and United Nations conventions on combating corruption and the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Al-Faris noted that this resolution, as the first draft resolution initiated and submitted by Nazaha on behalf of the State of Kuwait, reflects the Authority’s orientation toward strengthening Kuwait’s contribution to developing joint Arab initiatives in the field of preventing and combating corruption, and transitioning from participation in regional efforts to taking the initiative and proposing recommendations that support joint Arab action. The resolution calls upon the States Parties to develop their national legislation and regulations to address methods of concealing true ownership, enhance the exchange of information and cooperation among them, and leverage modern technologies and artificial intelligence in collecting and analyzing data that aid in identifying beneficial owners.

Al-Faris explained that the resolution is an extension of Kuwaiti efforts that began at the Gulf level, where Nazaha previously prepared the “Guidelines and Measures for Identifying the Actual Beneficial Owner for GCC States,” which was adopted by the Ministerial Committee on Combating Corruption in the GCC countries, before these efforts transitioned today to the Arab level.

The resolution was adopted during Kuwait’s participation in the sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Arab Convention on Combating Corruption, with a delegation led by Al-Faris. In Kuwait’s statement before the Conference, she emphasized that combating corruption is a shared responsibility requiring effective Arab cooperation and continuous development of the capacities of relevant authorities. Al-Faris expressed Kuwait’s appreciation to sister state Qatar for its excellent hosting and organization, and to the States Parties for their support of the resolution, reaffirming the expectation that its outcomes will be translated into practical steps that enhance integrity, transparency, and Arab cooperation in combating corruption.