Financial Transparency Coalition

Sometimes, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture when talking about illicit financial flows. We either spend time talking and reading about big numbers--the total amount of money flowing out of countries--or individual events, like the horrible things facilitated by HSBC. Today, Task Force and Global Financial Integrity Director Raymond Baker took a step back and discussed the big-picture implications of illicit financial flows, and what they do to a society, in the Huffington Post.

WASHINGTON DC – Illicit financial flows due to crime, corruption, and tax evasion cost Zambia $8.8 billion from 2001-2010, finds a forthcoming report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI).

In our newest report, Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries 2001-2010, we look at illicit financial flows--the proceeds of crime, corruption, and tax evasion--leaving the developing world. Illicit financial flows are a type of capital flight, and have been a persistent plague on the developing world for some time now. Our new report will be released on Tuesday morning. But for today, I want to focus more narrowly on Zambia, one of the poorest nations on earth and one of the clearest examples of the damage caused by both illicit and licit capital flight.

Léonce Ndikumana, a member of the Task Force Economist Advisory Council, appeared on The Real News to discuss his new research on capital flight from Africa. His work found that $1.6 trillion in capital flight and odious debt have left Africa from 1970-2010. Of that sum, he found that at least $619 billion had gone missing, and was illicit. Much of this, he argues, was facilitated by big western banks, tax havens, and other Western financial structures.