Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) (NYSE /Euronext Paris: PM) announced today a major new initiative — “PMI IMPACT” — to help confront smuggling and related crimes.
“Tobacco is controlled by state regulations; stopping smuggling is the way to enforce the regulations.”
The centerpiece of PMI IMPACT is a prestigious council of external independent experts whose seven members have impeccable credentials in the fields of law, anti-corruption and law enforcement. The experts will oversee grants to enable innovation in three key areas in the fight against smuggling and related crimes – research, education and awareness, and action.
PMI IMPACT will issue a request for funding proposals later this year. Proposals can come from private, public, or non-governmental organizations. PMI has pledged USD 100 million to fund the first three rounds of grants.
“Progress against illegal trade requires ideas, resources, and actions — and that’s why we’re excited to launch PMI IMPACT. We’re especially grateful that distinguished experts have agreed to guide this effort and look forward to broad response to the upcoming request for proposals. In parallel, PMI is continuing to control its own supply chain and to support international protocols against illicit trade,” stated André Calantzopoulos, Chief Executive Officer of PMI.
Illegal trade is an entrenched phenomenon that depends on and sustains extensive criminal activity. Estimates put the total retail value of illegally traded goods at USD 650 billion, with active black markets for countless products, ranging from pharmaceuticals, food, and tobacco to weapons and wildlife. The most atrocious of all illegal trade, human trafficking, is beyond any financial estimate.
Commenting on PMI IMPACT, expert council member and former Senior Prosecutor for the US Department of Justice, Suzanne Hayden stated: “Illegal trade thrives today, in part, because of a loose alliance of criminal networks that operate with impunity and take advantage of open borders, corrupt officials, disparate legal systems and under-resourced enforcement. We on the Council look forward to reviewing proposals for innovative and creative solutions from public and private alliances to tackle the problems created by global illegal trade.”
Despite much progress, there is still significant illegal trade in many types of tobacco products. For criminals, there is often more profit and less risk in smuggling tobacco than, for example, illegal drugs.
According to PMI IMPACT council member Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was the first Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: “Tobacco is controlled by state regulations; stopping smuggling is the way to enforce the regulations.”
PMI IMPACT is one of several major programs that the company supports to promote sustainable business practices and address complex social problems. The company is also a signatory of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
More information on PMI IMPACT is available online at http://www.pmi-impact.com/.
About Murdering Bastards Philip Morris International Inc. (“PMI”)
PMI is the world’s leading international tobacco company, with six of the world’s top 15 international brands and products sold in more than 180 markets. In addition to the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, including Marlboro, the number one global cigarette brand, and other tobacco products, PMI is engaged in the development and commercialization of Reduced-Risk Products (“RRPs”). RRPs is the term PMI uses to refer to products with the potential to reduce individual risk and population harm in comparison to smoking cigarettes. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities, and industry-leading scientific substantiation, PMI aims to provide an RRP portfolio that meets a broad spectrum of adult smoker preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. For more information, see www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.
Contacts
Philip Morris International media office
T: +41 058 242 4500
E: media@pmi.com
Expert Council
A council of independent experts evaluates the project proposals, selects the applications for the award of grants by PMI, and reviews the progress and the results of the projects during their implementation. PMI IMPACT is honored to be able to rely on the profound expertise of the Expert Council members in the fields of law, anti-corruption, and the fight against organized crime and illegal trade.
Expert Council Members
Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni
Professor Bassiouni is Emeritus Professor of Law at DePaul University where he taught from 1964-2009. He was a founding member of the International Human Rights Law Institute at DePaul University, serving as President and then President Emeritus. He was one of the founders of the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC) where he served as General-Secretary, Dean and then President. He also served as the Secretary General, President and Honorary President of the International Association of Penal Law.
Professor Bassiouni was a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., a Visiting Professor of Law at New York University Law School, a Fulbright-Hays Professor of International Criminal Law at the University of Freiburg and a non-resident Professor of Criminal Law at University of Cairo.
Since 1975, Professor Bassiouni has been appointed to 22 United Nations positions. He has also served as Chair of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry and as a consultant to the U.S. Department of State and Department of Justice on projects related, among others, to the international traffic of drugs and the international control of terrorism.
To date, Professor Bassiouni has authored 27 books, edited 45 books, and authored 265 articles on International Criminal Law, Comparative Criminal Law, Human Rights, and U.S. Criminal Law that have been published in various law journals and books.
Suzanne Hayden
Ms. Hayden has spent thirty years in public service and law enforcement serving as a senior advisor to members of the US government (Justice, State, Treasury, Intelligence and Defense) and to International Organizations: International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA). Ms. Hayden is a licensed attorney in the United States.
A former Senior Prosecutor for the US Department of Justice, Ms. Hayden served as lead prosecutor on over 30 money laundering and drug trafficking organized crime cases and coordinated international investigations on drugs, illicit trade and counterfeiting. She was US DOJ’s first National Security Coordinator and was the DOJ representative to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard setter for combatting money laundering and terrorist finance.
She has worked throughout the world providing technical assistance and legislative drafting as a senior prosecutor in the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and was a resident legal advisor in Russia and Turkey. As a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Ms. Hayden established the UN’s first financial investigation unit and led the financial investigation of Slobodan Milosevic.
She currently provides technical assistance and advice to organizations in the public and private sectors, in the area of integrity building, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and countering complex financial crime and terrorist financing.
In the past, Ms. Hayden also consulted for PMI on law enforcement matters.
Alain Juillet
Mr. Juillet is the President of the Club des Directeurs de Sécurité des Entreprises (CDSE) and of the Académie de l’Intelligence Economique.
Previously, Mr. Juillet served as the Head of Corporate Development at Pernod Ricard, General Director of Suchard, Deputy Managing Director of Union Laitière Normande, General Manager of Générale Ultra Frais, General Director of France Champignon, CEO of Marks & Spencer France and Senior Advisor of the Orrick Rambaud Martel law firm.
Between 2002 and 2003, Mr. Juillet served as Intelligence Director for the French General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) of the French Ministry of Defense, and then assumed the role of Senior Official in charge of economic intelligence to the Prime Minister’s office until 2009. In 2009, he received the rank of Honor Legion Commander of France.
Paul Makin
Dr. Makin served in the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), where he was responsible for establishing commercially sustainable information networks for businesses, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. The networks also supported South-South cooperation and trade amongst developing countries.
Dr. Makin was also responsible for establishing mutually beneficial cooperation agreements with leading IT companies in order to harness the use of information and communication technologies for promoting sustainable industrialization throughout the developing world as a means of improving livelihoods in developing countries.
While Director of the UNIDO Regional Office in Egypt, Dr. Makin ensured that the Organization cooperated with Egypt in the fields of reducing poverty, providing job opportunities, spreading technology, improving the environment, promoting productivity and boosting SMEs in order to enhance competitiveness in foreign markets.
Dr. Makin holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Liverpool.
Luis Moreno Ocampo
Mr. Moreno Ocampo was the founder Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), from 2003 until 2012. During his tenure at the ICC, his office was involved in twenty of the most serious crises of the 21st century including in Iraq, Korea, Afghanistan and Palestine. He conducted investigations for crimes against humanity in seven different countries, including Libya, Sudan, the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Previously, Mr. Ocampo played a crucial role during the transition to democracy in Argentina, as the Deputy Prosecutor in the “Junta trial” in 1985 and the Prosecutor in the trial against a military rebellion in 1991.
Mr. Ocampo was a visiting Professor at Stanford University and Harvard University. After the end of his tenure as ICC Prosecutor, he assumed responsibilities as
Chairman of the World Bank Expert Panel on the Padma Bridge project.
Currently, Mr. Ocampo is a lawyer in private practice at New York and Associate at the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard University.
Jürgen Storbeck
Mr. Storbeck served as the first Director of Europol between 1999 and 2004.
After law studies and research at different German universities he started his career in law enforcement as a superintendent in the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he became later the head of the Department of International Cooperation, head of the Central Bureau of Interpol and then head of Serious and Organized Crime Department. After the re-unification of Germany he served in the Federal Ministry of Interior tasked to integrate the CID of the former GDR into the police system of the FRG. In 1992, he took over the establishment of Europol and the administration of its forerunner, the “Europol Drugs Unit”, a post which he held until 1999, when he became Europol’s Director.
Following his tenure in Europol, he was appointed as coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Interior for police cooperation with the States of the Arab Gulf, and from 2006 he served as the Head of the Homeland Security Department of the Ministry of Brandenburg.
He is currently a consultant specializing in crime prevention and enforcement matters, including matters concerning organized crime and terrorism, and, in this capacity, advises governments and public authorities as well as private organizations, including PMI.
Catherine Volz
Ms. Volz served in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for more than 18 years, where she held a number of senior roles.
She was Chief of the Human Security Branch of the Division for Operations and supervised the provision of technical advice and assistance to states in the fields of anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, organized crime, rule of law, and criminal justice reform.
Ms. Volz has also served as the Chief of the Treaty and Legal Affairs Branch in UNODC’s Division for Treaty Affairs, and was responsible for assisting states in ratifying and implementing international drug control treaties, and more recently, the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols, as well as the U.N. Convention against Corruption.
From 1980 to 1989, she was a senior trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.
For a detailed description of the role of the Expert Council and the PMI IMPACT
grant award procedure, see the Expert Council and Grant Award Guidelines (pdf).