Financial Transparency Coalition

On September 24th, tucked away in a quiet conference room in the basement of the UN General Assembly building, an extraordinary conversation took place on the future of global development.  But, despite the gathering of representatives from the OECD, UN, World Bank, USAID and the Mexican, Australian, and Nigerian governments, the event received exactly zero media coverage. Titled “Curbing Illicit Financial Flows for Domestic Resource Mobilization and Sustainable Development in the Post-2015 Era,” the focal point of the two-hour discussion was how the international community could, as the program description put...

A powerful 20 minute film just out from Carte Blanche, a major South African investigative news programme lifts the lid on the country’s illegal mining sector. The film takes us on a journey where “poor, desperate people” brave gunmen to go underground to look for gold in atrocious conditions. We witness illegal gold trades by a headteacher on his own school grounds during school hours and hear from gold traders making 10 million rand a month (about $900,000). The film shows us the “new randlords” and organised crime syndicates who rake in billions buying black market gold. But the value of this gold...

Owners of anonymous companies registered in U.S. states are ripping off innocent people and businesses across America, says a new report by Global Witness. Drawing on 22 cases involving anonymous companies from 27 states, The Great Rip Off shows how fraudsters, mobsters, money-launderers, tax-evaders and corrupt politicians are able to use anonymously-owned American companies to cover their tracks and evade the authorities. “We looked at all sorts of crimes across the U.S. and found two things in common. They were all carried out by anonymous owners of American companies, and the authorities are spending lots of time and money trying...

Our overall feeling is that we’re winning some minor victories in the battle against tax dodging, but we risk losing the war. We’ve gained a new template for country-by-country reporting, and some new anti-abuse provisions for tax treaties are emerging. But our political momentum to achieve a more fundamental change to the global tax system can be undermined by the fact that OECD sells these rather limited steps forward as a magic solution to tax dodging. Furthermore, some very concerning tendencies are developing: