CORRUPTLY obtaining money is often easier than spending it. Campaigners in America, Britain and other countries are gaining support for a way of making the fruits of corruption even harder to enjoy: the public imposition of visa bans and asset freezes on foreign miscreants. Such measures used to be the business of governments only. They were often narrowly targeted, applied in private, and hostage to diplomatic considerations. But in future, names on the blacklists could come from lawmakers or even the public. The campaign stems from the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who said he had uncovered a $230m fraud involving a tax refund paid to firms that officials had stolen from a foreign investment fund. The same officials arrested Mr Magnitsky, who died in prison in 2009 after refusing to back down. The fund's founder, the American-born financier Bill Browder, has named 60 people involved in either the fraud, or the persecution of Mr Magnitsky: those of them who have made public statements deny all wrongdoing. Mr Browder wants Western countries to deny them visas and freeze their assets. His campaign has gathered pace, notably in Congress, where committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have backed it with draft bills tied to the legislation that needs to pass now that Russia is joining the World Trade Organisation. The bills require the administration to compile and publish lists of those involved in the Magnitsky case or other abuses; names can also be included with bipartisan support from the relevant congressional committees. Crucially, the Senate's version includes four extra words, saying the abuses can be "anywhere in the world." Assuming that a version of the bill becomes law (which is likely, given its bipartisan support), this wider wording will give human-rights campaigners a sharp new tool. Existing blacklists - for officials from countries such as Belarus and Iran - have been compiled by the State Department alone. Congressional staffers are already identifying officials from Bahrain whom they wish to see banned from entering America. Robert Palmer of Global Witness, an anti-corruption group, says: "The Magnitsky case has opened the door to a wider assault on human-rights abusers." Too far, too fast, too new The administration was unhappy at first about the bills, arguing that they were unnecessary - as the State Department already withheld visas from such people - and excessive, because they tie the hands of policymakers. It did secure one concession: for national security reasons, it can keep quiet about particular names that are either on or off the list. But campaigners are jubilant. David Kramer of Freedom House, a campaigning think-tank, says that a degree of uncertainty is welcome: "It's good if bad people think they're on the list." He also notes the importance of using access to the American financial system as a lever. European banks, he says, will have to choose between their dodgy clients or doing business in America. Similar moves are afoot elsewhere. In Britain Dominic Raab, a Conservative MP, has won unanimous support in the House of Commons for a motion - soon to be a draft bill - that would create a presumption in favour of action for both those on the Magnitsky list, and other corrupt or beastly figures. Mr Raab, formerly a lawyer at the Foreign Office, suggests that any member of the public should be able to submit evidence of wrongdoing to the Crown Prosecution Service, which would, if persuaded, then recommend a visa ban or asset freeze. Foreigners who felt they were unfairly targeted would have the right to appeal. If the government wanted to make an exception, it would have to give a "damn good reason." Steven Kay QC, a British lawyer, says that the new sanctions reflect the public's increased access to information about misdeeds and its increased ability to campaign. "The ability for corrupt officials to enjoy the fruits of their conduct in places more pleasant than the ones that suffer from it is an issue that governments, glad of the foreigners" money and nervous of their wrath, prefer not to touch," he says. Indeed, although many governments in the EU say they support the Magnitsky campaign, none wants to attract Russian ire by being the first to impose sanctions. Mr Browder has been lobbying parliaments in the hope of changing that. Lawmakers in the Netherlands and other countries have backed his ideas, as have the parliamentary assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and most party groupings in the European Parliament; it will vote on a Magnitsky sanctions measure in October. Switzerland has opened a money-laundering investigation into an account held by a Russian tax official named by Mr Browder. He hopes action in America will stiffen European spines. The G-20 grouping of big economies has also endorsed the idea of using visa bans against corrupt officials. Other countries can play the game, too. Russia has retaliated with visa bans on 11 American officials linked to Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. But denying access to Russia may be a lesser source of grief.