Originally from Practice of International Litigation - 2nd Edition

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Business investors who put money into foreign countries face
certain risks, which can be mitigated in part by bilateral investment treaties
(BITs) and free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA). These agreements permit investors to seek relief
from expropriation and similar actions by a host state that causes them
losses. Unfortunately, corruption among governmental officials in many
countries is much too common and contracts sometimes turn out to have
been obtained through bribery of those officials.

The consequences of the presentation of convincing evidence that a
contract was obtained through illegality can be dramatic. Because bribery
and similar corruption are contrary to the laws of just about every
jurisdiction in the world and also violate international public policy norms,
contracts obtained by such means are generally treated as unenforceable.
We discuss below the consequences and implications of such
unenforceability.