While the Law Commission ultimately decided that the balance between confidentiality and transparency is best left to the courts to address, we believe the Arbitration Bill should introduce statutory safeguards to protect arbitration from being abused to conceal corruption or fraud.
The confidentiality of arbitration in high-value disputes involving states poses serious risks to the credibility of arbitration and the public interest in scrutinising disputes that may be tainted by corruption. These risks are particularly acute where parties are complicit in corruption and may abuse the confidentiality of arbitration to conceal wrongdoing from both the tribunal and the public.
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