Financial Transparency Coalition

The recent events in Tunisia and Egypt have demonstrated the power of citizens who won’t endure corrupt governments any longer. Their call for accountable and transparent leadership to ensure an equal distribution of public goods was heard around the world. In France, the UK and Switzerland governments heeded calls to freeze and investigate the assets of ex-president of Tunisia Ben Ali and ex-president of Egypt Hosni Mubarak and their families. There should be no impunity for those who wield power for their own benefit and not for their people. The international community...

76 civil society organizations, including 7 members of the Task Force—Christian Aid, Eurodad, Global Financial Integrity, Global Witness, Tax Justice Network, Tax Research UK, and Transparency International—submitted the attached letter to G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group officials on February 11, 2011. The letter affirmed the civil society groups' support for the G20’s work combating corruption, urged swift action and made recommendations.

On the Task Force, blog authors often argue with passion and conviction against a broad suite of crimes against the impoverished.   With perhaps some of the most vehemence and certainty, we point to the evils of corruption: its destructive impact on development, its destabilizing effect on political systems, and its brutal consequences for the world’s poorest people.  Since it is such a clear evil, we rarely discuss the phenomenon in a nuanced context or in terms of incompatible interests, which it often represents.  For that reason, I believe it is important to have a discussion of corruption from another...

So far, 2011 has not been a comfortable year for the tax dodger. One month in and WikiLeaks is preparing to publish the names of thousands of offshore account holders in Switzerland, UK based companies like Vodafone have been criticised for alleged aggressive tax avoidance, and following a high profile corruption scandal, India’s media is hungry to expose the horrors of a system which allows billions of dollars to flow out of the country every year. Best estimates suggest that Africa has lost US$854 billion to illicit outflows of capital in the past three decades – aided and abetted...