Financial Transparency Coalition

LONDON – The coalition government’s decision to delay the implementation of the landmark Bribery Act for the second time casts serious doubt on its commitment to combatting corruption, said Global Witness, Tearfund, CAFOD and Christian Aid today. Passed with an all-party consensus in April 2010, the Act was supposed to be implemented last October, but was first shifted to April and is now delayed indefinitely.

WASHINGTON, DC – Egypt is losing more than US$6 billion per year—US$57.2 billion in total from 2000 to 2008— to illicit financial activities and official government corruption, writes Global Financial Integrity (GFI) economist, Karly Curcio, in a new weblog published today at www.financial taskforce.org. The piece "Egypt too? There Goes the Neighborhood" uses numbers from GFI’s recently released report, "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2000-2009." The report, authored by GFI Lead Economist Dev Kar and Ms. Curcio, lists illicit capital flight numbers for all developing countries from 2000-2008, including Egypt.

WASHINGTON, DC – As part of a newly announced government plan to tackle corruption, crime, and illicit capital flight, the government of India has joined the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development’s Partnership Panel. Task Force Partnership Panel members also include the governments of Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the Ford Foundation.

WASHINGTON, DC – A new report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI), “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2000-2009,” released this week shows that Russia has the second highest measured illicit outflows out of the developing world--US$427 billion from 2000-2008, an average of US$53 billion per year.