Financial Transparency Coalition

On Wednesday I wrote a blog post about the number of people worldwide who suffer from hunger; a figure that has dropped in the last year, but is still much higher than it was a decade ago. I wrote that in 2000 the United Nations (UN) set about the lofty goal of halving global poverty and hunger as part of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs represent perhaps the most ambitious set of development objectives ever. And next week, in New York City, world leaders will convene for a UN Summit to evaluate the progress...

It is quite well known by now that secrecy jurisdictions are not merely an atomised grouping of mostly small states exercising their sovereign rights to set their own tax, secrecy and regulatory rules and laws as they please. Nearly all of the small states are, instead, substantially protected and controlled by larger powers, notably OECD countries, and of these the United Kingdom is by far the most important. Moreover, several large OECD countries are secrecy jurisdictions in their own right (the Financial Secrecy Index gives a good idea.) Ronen Palan's History of Tax Havens gives a good...

Does legal corruption exist? Unfortunately yes, and it poses a major challenge to the anti-corruption fight. Friendship is hardly banned by law, but friendship between political leaders and business people can hurt credibility or legitimacy of the decisions of the former, when the latter make them friendly gifts or donations. The claim for transparency is also a claim for true accountability of the decision makers, whether in the political or in the business world. Informal and opaque networks often advance their financial interests by using the discrepancy between what is formally condemned by law and what would shock every honest...

Saris cast off for India's CPI The Times (London), September 15, 2010

Deutsche Telekom Is Focus of Corruption Investigation The New York Times, September 15, 2010

Deutsche Telekom Says Raid on CEO Home Was `Disproportionate' Bloomberg, September 15, 2010

New Afghan Corruption Inquiries Frozen The New York Times, September 14, 2010

Al-Qaeda leader condemns corruption in Pakistan The Telegraph, September 15, 2010

Mafia's new tactics: putting dirty money into clean energy AFP, September 15, 2010

The anti-corruption solution: keeping the millennium development promise Transparency International, September 15, 2010

Algerian...