Financial Transparency Coalition

We've covered Greece quite a bit here on the Task Force blog. Tax evasion and corruption are both endemic in Greece, and they have played no small part in the current financial crisis in both Greece and Europe. Wealthy Greeks have moved significant amounts of money overseas to tax havens like Switzerland.

Task Force member Global Financial Integrity released their newest report on illicit financial flows from the developing world last night. The report found that $5.86 trillion left the developing world due to crime, corruption, and tax evasion from 2001-2010, $859 billion in 2012 alone. The report uses a new, broader, methodology to estimate illicit financial flows, and the numbers should be considered very conservative. They also set up a very cool Explore page if you would like to delve deeper into the data.

Reuters Financial Blogger Felix Salmon today defended the decision by the United States to not prosecute individuals at HSBC for money laundering violations.

This thought-provoking documentary from Exposure looks at the British Bribery Act and overseas bribery by British companies. In particular, it focuses on extractive industry companies in Nigeria. The documentary quotes Task Force member Global Witness's Simon Taylor, and highlights the push for a Dodd-Frank 1504-style transparency law for European companies.