Financial Transparency Coalition

We have blogged a few times about the efforts of Barclays Bank to encourage and set up offshore banking in Ghana, amid a highly corrupted region in the throes of a gigantic oil boom. The prospects for this becoming a conduit for illicit leakage is tremendous. This next offering in the Harvard International Review takes the story further. Its first line goes like this:

We are bound by our confidentially agreement with our clients,' disclosed a Barclays official based in the Seychelles. 'No other branches can access our client details.'

Barclays again. Then the article continues:

When it comes to illegal, transboundary smuggling, the study of illicit financial flows generally focuses on problems that are on a massive scale worldwide, for example the illegal drug trade, smuggling of precious metals and gems, and human trafficking. On these subjects, there is a wealth of literature and organizations devoted to understanding and eradicating their damaging effects on development. There are other types of illicit cross-boarder movements of goods, however, which are not discussed as widely, but which may be just as harmful to development. One example is illegal logging, a practice which strips developing countries of a...

WASHINGTON—Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development (Task Force) member Transparency International released its 15^th annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) today. The Index is based on different assessments and business opinion surveys concerning the administrative and political aspects of corruption such as bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds, and the strength and effectiveness of public sector anti-corruption efforts. Two of the Index’s biggest losers were Russia and the U.S.—both of which were perceived to have become more corrupt over the past year—while Denmark, New Zealand, and Singapore were considered the least...

Kenya lost about Sh156 billion between 2000 and 2008 to illicit outflows of capital perpetuated by wealthy businesspeople and multinationals. These resources can finance about 70 per cent of Kenya’s 2010/11 development budget of Sh222 billion.