Corruption A Global Concern: FBI Collaborating With Foreign Law Enforcement Agencies To Fight It 

Patna, April 17 : To take on the menace of corruption globally, the United States was working on a multipronged strategy both at home and abroad that includes collaboration between its premier probe agency the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and law enforcement agencies of other countries. While doing so, the FBI at times faces non-cooperation from law enforcement agencies of some of the countries, admitted a senior official while addressing a recent webinar recently on curbing illicit finance. The non-cooperation is either due to political pressure or other factors affecting the functioning of the law enforcement agencies in some countries, said Jeff Coleman, FBI’s Supervisory Special Agent in US International Corruption Unit. To tackle such a situation Coleman said if an agency does not cooperate with requests, the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre (IACCC) and Transnational Anti-corruption Partnership (TAP) advisors try to build relationships with those agencies and instill confidence and trust. Replying to a query during the webinar organised by Foreign Press Centre, Washington DC, Coleman admitted such a turn of events affects the mission as the dimension of corruption is larger in such countries compared to the resources dedicated to investigating and totally eradicating graft. He said keeping in mind such situations, the agency chooses where it is going to try to make the largest impact and where it can be the most effective. He said earlier during 2009 -2015, the cooperation was too less as the law enforcement agencies neither worked as partners nor knew each other. But now more countries were collaborating, thereby ensuring a more effective and highly impactful fight against corruption.