Financial Transparency Coalition

In Thailand, corruption in customs enforcement is a fact of life.  The Bangkok Post notes that customs officials almost universally demand “tea money,” or bribes, and bonuses to customs officials based on a percentage of a confiscated shipment’s value cause the length of inspections to stretch out interminably.  These specific customs procedures and rules, along with the flawed incentive structures they create, have led to an increase in illicit financial flows (IFFs) from Thailand due to trade mispricing. Illicit financial outflows due to trade mispricing occur when individuals or companies use export under-invoicing and import over-invoicing to transfer funds...

Another US Company Bumped Off FCPA Top 10 List Wall Street Journal (Corruption Currents Blog), April 6, 2011 Stanford Bank Records Fight Belongs Under Hague, Judge Says Bloomberg, April 6, 2011 India to wait till Dec to get details from Swiss banks Economic Times (India), April 7, 2011 Argentina Presses Congress To Approve Money-Laundering Bill

Data reveal huge sums spirited out of Angola Reuters Africa, March 6, 2011 FACTBOX-Tracking illicit financial flows Reuters (Africa), April 6, 2011 Issue Paper – Transnational Organized Crime in the Fishing Industry UNODC (Press Release), April 6, 2011 Swiss cabinet asks parliament to approve tax aid treaty details Geneva Lunch (Blog), April 6, 2011 Gulf clients

Speaking at the African Tax Administration Forum yesterday, Oupa Magashula, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner announced his country intends to collaborate with the rest of the African continent to decrease tax evasion by harmonizing their tax policies. This, they believe, would make it “harder for companies to exploit the variation in legislation to lower their tax burden.” The Commissioner told reporters “The main thing is to avoid jurisdiction hopping, where people go shopping around for the lowest tax.” Magashula is not without his share of successes. Although SARS had already drastically improved efficiency and compliance...