WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo vowed on Monday not to allow corrupt foreign officials and their immediate family members from traveling to and spending their ill-gotten gains in the United States.

Also on Monday, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on corrupt actors, and the networks that support them, to coincide with International Anti-Corruption Day.

The designations, of a Latvian oligarch, a Cambodian logging magnate, a Cambodian general and a Balkan arms dealer, were made under the Global Magnitsky Act, which authorises sanctions on human rights abusers and those engaging in corruption.

“We will continue to use this authority globally to prevent corrupt officials of foreign governments and their immediate family members from traveling to and spending their ill-gotten gains in the United States,” said Mr Pompeo in his Anti-Corruption Day message.

In 2019, the US State Department designated almost 40 public officials and their immediate family members due to their involvement in significant corruption.

“Today… we reaffirm our commitment to prevent and combat corruption globally,” Mr Pompeo said. “Corr­up­tion obstructs economic growth and development, facilitates transnational crime, and fuels terrorism, robbing citizens around the world of their basic rights.”

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2019