First of all, what role does corruption play? Corruption props up the regime and its leaders through their various offshore accounts and monies that they've hidden in various bank accounts in different parts of the world and different assets.
To come back to the issue of sanctions, we should put them on notice that we have tools. If FARA were to be passed—that's the frozen assets repurposing act—we could use it against them to confiscate those assets. That would be sending a much stronger threat than just freezing. It's called freeze and seize, and I would say that you tell them, “You cross that line, it's going hit you in the pocketbook.”
When it comes to the international anti-corruption court, it's putting foreign leaders on notice, if they're prosecuted before the court, that if they step outside of their country, they will be brought before the court and tried.
It's often said that such an instrument might be opposed, for example, by Canadian companies, Mr. Chong, but in fact, I think you'd find, if you started canvassing them, that they would see this as a great way to level the playing field when they do business abroad, because it's going to put foreign leaders on notice that they can't play these kinds of games.
Again, without getting into too many of the details, they're two potential instruments to use against corrupt regimes like the leadership of Russia. It's going to take a long time to establish an international anti-corruption court, but we can do FARA right now if there's political will to do it, and I would suggest that there are strong reasons to do it. Other countries might well follow our lead if we were to pass such legislation sooner rather than later.
