Financial Transparency Coalition

The European Commission released a proposal for country-by-country reporting on 25 October, this will help to address corruption surrounding extractive industries and logging. However this will not address the larger problem of tax dodging which is prevalent in these industries and widespread in all other sectors. European parliamentarians and member states could improve the proposal so that tax issues in all sectors are covered.

About two weeks ago, I wrote about the “upward trajectory” of India’s stance on black money and transparency in international finance. I predicted that the country (eventually) would become a leader in this arena. In case you’ve missed India’s catapult into this discussion, here’s the background. In April of 2009, after becoming very upset by the evidence there are rivers of ‘black money’ flowing out of India, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajnath Singh, told voters that if they elected his party into office he would, within 100 days, “bring back all the black money stashed in foreign...

How international pressure is helping to open up Switzerland, but more is needed to make a real dent in international poverty.

From the Tax Justice Network blog: Misha Glenny has a good article in the FT today:

As the new Greek government struggles to convince Europe of its resolve to cut the country’s bloated public sector, it also has to decide whether to face down the real domestic threat to Greece’s stability: the network of oligarch families who control large parts of the Greek business, the financial sector, the media and, indeed, politicians.

The oligarchs have responded predictably: by accelerating their exports of cash. In the last year, the London property market alone...