Corruption in public entity contracts existed long before arbitration became a regular means of resolving investor-state disputes. The involvement of an international tribunal of appointed arbitrators was however bound to put the issue under the spotlight, especially given the gravity of the allegations and the legal consequences that can flow from a finding of corruption. The fact that for corruption to occur participants from both the state and the investor must take part further complicates.

Often the state will have received a substantial benefit from the performance of the contract obtained through the corruption. Tribunals have had to deal with the thorny issues involved, including what the standard of proof should be for such allegations and what should be the consequence of the state having received a substantial benefit from the performance of the contract.

This topic is the focus of much attention in the arbitration community: the ICC has commissioned a working group on the subject and others have proposed tools to help arbitrators address the issues.

External speakers:

• Alexis Mourre (President, ICC International Court of Arbitration)
• Christina Täuber (In-house legal counsel, CML International)
• Karl Hennessee (SVP Litigation, Investigations & Regulatory Affairs, Airbus)
• Mark Pieth (Professor, University of Basel, President, Basel Institute on Governance)
• Sophie Nappert (Independent arbitrator, 3 Verulam Buildings, Co-chair, ICC Task Force Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration)
• Yves Derains (Founding partner, Derains & Gharavi, Chairman of the ICC Institute of World Business Law)