Financial Transparency Coalition

Today is not just Tax Day in the United States. It is also the first anniversary of the deadline for the SEC to issue rules on Dodd-Frank Secti0n 1504 – the breakthrough transparency provision for the oil, gas, and mining sectors. Task Force Managing Director Tom Cardamone, as a guest post at Trust Law, writes,

Ministers from Financial Action Task Force (FATF) member countries will meet in Washington DC on 20 April to extend the FATF mandate for another 8 years, continuing to safeguard the integrity of the international financial system. The FATF Ministerial Meeting will take place in the margins of the 2012 IMF / World Bank Spring Meetings. It follows on the recent publication of the revised FATF 40 Recommendations, the international standard for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

Following traces of money flowing through the criminal underworld has long been an important strategy for law enforcement. German investigators were trying to do just that, following US$150 million in corrupt money back from Germany to a number of Russian officials. However, the investigators were forced to give up their search after the trail brought them to an anonymous corporation, and uncooperative Russian officials.

At the Center for Global Development / Washington Post forum yesterday, Nigerian Finance Minister and nominee for the World Bank Presidency Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala answered a series of questions about the World Bank, and the challenges it faces moving into the future. The whole interview is available on video here.