The Dis-Embedded Arbitrator: Releasing Arbitration from Corruption-Shaped Environments in the Wake of the Odebrecht Arbitral Ordeal in Peru

Despite local instances of single arbitrators’ corruption not having proven completely absent from arbitration chronicles over the last decades, one may safely argue that until very recently, no scandal had ever been severe enough to shake foundations communities on a regional, let alone global, level. However, this eventually occurred in 2019 Peru as outcome countless parallel investigations stemming 2016 Odebrecht saga, propagated Brazil whole Latin America, Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, and beyond, labelled by many largest its kind recent history. Peru’s vicissitudes revolved around number corrupted arbitrators who systematically accepted bribes political favours return for favourable awards upholding repricing public-procurement contracts. This story can teach us about more than simple evidence arbitrators, too, might fall corruption; criminologically, it suggests dispute-resolution mechanism find itself embedded within regionalised networked systems corruption-prone regulatory capture, even play an active role their normalised perpetuation. To prevent this, while regard safeguarding independence confidentiality arbitral proceedings highest possible extent, enactment context-sensitive binding regulation is advised.