Letter to National Crime Agency highlights need for victim compensation

In July 2024, Spotlight on Corruption and Malawian NGO Youth and Society wrote a joint letter to the National Crime Agency (NCA) concerning compensation for the overseas victims of alleged corruption involving the British-Malawian businessman Zuneth Sattar.

In our letter, we welcomed the NCA’s investigation into suspected bribery, money laundering, fraud and witness intimidation involving Mr Sattar. We also commended the agency’s ongoing cooperation with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Malawi, which is especially important in light of recent pushback to local investigations and prosecutions.

While noting that charging decisions have not yet been made in relation to Mr Sattar, we urged the NCA to work collaboratively with the Crown Prosecution Service, ACB and relevant government departments to ensure compensation is proactively considered at the earliest possible stage and integrated into the preparation of any case that may go to trial.

We drew the NCA’s attention to the UK’s obligations under the UN Convention Against Corruption and the commitments that the NCA made in 2018 under the ‘General principles to compensate overseas victims (including affected states) in bribery, corruption and economic crime cases’. Under this framework, the NCA has undertaken to consider the question of compensation in all relevant cases and, if compensation is appropriate, use whatever legal mechanisms are available to secure it.

It is disappointing that these commitments have so far failed to deliver compensation in most international corruption cases heard in the UK since the Compensation Principles were published in 2018. Ensuring the harms of corruption are properly compensated is an essential part of holding corrupt actors to account and achieving justice for the victims of corruption. 

We therefore encouraged the NCA to engage with relevant stakeholders in Malawi, including local civil society organisations, to help identify and evidence the harms caused by the alleged corruption involving Mr Sattar and/or his associates. 

Read our full letter by clicking the link below.

Update (8/8/2024): We have received a response from the National Crime Agency which can be read below.