Only a handful of states have been actively pursuing the enforcement of foreign bribery. Switzerland is one of them and its efforts to crack down on this offence is commendable.

Between 2011 and 2024, Switzerland issued 14 final judicial orders at a federal level against Swiss-linked companies that engaged in foreign bribery. In these proceedings, the companies were ordered to hand over approximately CHF 730 million (combined) in illicit profits that they had obtained through their foreign bribery schemes, and an additional CHF 30 million in fines.

This paper contends that Switzerland could further leverage this success to reinforce its status as a world anti-corruption leader. It examines how Switzerland could repurpose the illicit profits obtained from companies in foreign bribery cases to benefit the countries and people most affected by these corrupt acts and to enhance global anti-corruption efforts.

It outlines arguments as to why Switzerland should consider legislative action to enable the sharing of these profits in this way and the potential methodology for doing so.

About this Working Paper

This paper is published as part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper series, ISSN: 2624-9650. You may share or republish it under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International Licence.

This is a publication of the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) at the Basel Institute on Governance. ICAR receives core funding from the Governments of Jersey, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the UK.

The contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Basel Institute on Governance, its donors and partners, or the University of Basel.

Suggested citation: Dornbierer, Andrew. 2025. ‘Using corrupt proceeds to fight corruption: Rethinking how Switzerland uses illicit profits from foreign bribery.’ Working Paper 59, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: baselgovernance.org/publications/wp-59.