IIU Lead on Investigations lectures on transnational corruption at Seoul National University

  • Article type News
  • Publication date 20 Oct 2020

Cid Butuyan, Lead Investigator with the Independent Integrity Unit, delivered a lecture at the Seoul National University School of Law. Attended by a cohort of international students, the lecture focused on international financial organizations' efforts to combat corruption in international development projects.

Butuyan drew insights from his 15 years of experience investigating fraud and corruption in global development projects at the World Bank, his work for the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, and his current role at the Green Climate Fund. Butuyan presented his observation that there had been significant shifts in governance reforms and anti-corruption efforts in development work. He also discussed trends in efforts to enforce anti-corruption norms in international development projects.

Profile portrait of Cid Butuyan courtesy of the Philippine Competition Commission

The talk highlighted the following common characteristics of enforcement regimes in international financial organizations: a multilateral platform with a global reach; a muscular exercise of third-party audit and access rights; severe collateral consequences as a result of cross-debarment; and the possibility of parallel investigations because of the networks for information sharing and cooperation.

Butuyan has significant experience in academe as a former Lecturer at the Harvard Law School and as a Visiting Professor at the University of Hawaii School of Law. His current research interests explore victim-centered approaches to anti-corruption, focusing on applying restorative rather than punitive measures.

Recently, Butuyan spoke at the China University of Political Science and Law, where he discussed "Transnational Corruption and its Victims". This lecture was attended by approximately 160 students from the China-EU School of Law.