On 23 May 2016 Riga Graduate School of Law (RGSL) in cooperation with the United States Embassy in Riga organized a discussion on public sector corruption. The event began with a lecture delivered by U.S. federal prosecutor and Ohio State University law professor Doug Squires, who shared his experience of prosecuting high profile white-collar crime cases, including one of the largest frauds in U.S history. He also discussed what encourages public corruption, as well as types of public corruption and a Georgian case study.
The professor explained what attracts public corruption such as large government contracts and grants, public programme funding, lax law enforcement oversight, lax regulations or consequences and foreign business. He also explained how the US State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law-Enforcement Affairs has assisted police training efforts in Georgia and continues to act there in an advisory capacity.
As the students from the Advanced Programme in Law and Economics for the Eastern Partnership Region and Central Asia attended the discussion, they shared common experience so that the discussion turned into an interesting conversation where both sides shared their experience and knowledge.
About the professor:
Doug Squires is a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice and has prosecuted numerous significant white-collar cases, including one of the largest frauds in U.S history. In 2009, he received the Department’s Distinguished Service Award. He has authored several published materials on white-collar crime and fraud, including a chapter entitled “Forensic Accounting” in Scientific Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases, 5th Ed., the leading legal text on scientific and technical evidence.
Doug Squires is Adjunct Professor at Ohio State University in U.S.