Financial Transparency Coalition

Eduardo Bohorquez and Deniz Devrim of Transparencia Mexicana, our national chapter in Mexico, recently published an article arguing for the abolishment of the word “petty” in the term “petty bribery”. They point out that petty bribery in fact generates substantial costs to society, both monetary and non-monetary. For example, surveys find that in Mexico households with the minimum income spend 33 per cent of their monthly income on bribes.

There are obvious relationships between illicit financial flows, corruption, and tax evasion and environmental sustainability. For example, shell corporations can be used to mask illegal fishing or poaching. Corruption can enable companies to get around environmental compliance laws. And tax evasion can divert valuable resources away from environmental enforcement. In sum, illicit financial flows are human constructs that supplement and enhance damaging human behavior, contributing both to stagnating economic growth and worsening environmental conditions. But is there another—more direct—way to examine illicit financial flows and the environmental sustainability? The definition of sustainability isn’t as obvious as you’d think. “Sustainable” in its...

How Transnational Crime Hinders Development—and What to Do About It Council on Foreign Relations (blog), June 26, 2012 Combating Facilitators of Crime and Terrorism Global Financial Integrity, June 25, 2012 FATF Blacklists Ecuador, Yemen, Vietnam, Upgrades Philippines The Wall Street Journal (blog), June 25, 2012 PH gets upgrade for anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws

After nearly two years of postponement, Congress has called for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to immediately enact the transparency rules of the July 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. These provisions include Section 1504, which requires energy companies to publish transactions to governments; thus, the threat of illicit flows from extractive industries will be minimized.