Financial Transparency Coalition

In 2004 while in a Comparative Politics class, I had a conversation with a friend, who was relatively well-versed in things political, about Freedom House’s Freedom in the World rankings. I remember referring the fact that Russia was considered a “transitional democracy” and he corrected me. “No,” he replied, “Russia is a democracy.” My friend was wrong, of course, but in retrospect that seems much more obvious than it did at the time. In 2004 Russia, with the ranking “Partly Free,” had only just begun its descent into authoritarianism under the direction of Vladamir Putin. It was that...

Before the end of the week, former United States Vice President Dick Cheney will be indicted by Nigerian officials in connection with the long-running bribery investigation into Halliburton Company. According to Bloomberg News:

Indictments will be lodged in a Nigerian court “in the next three days,” Godwin Obla, prosecuting counsel at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said in an interview today at his office in Abuja, the capital. An arrest warrant for Cheney “will be issued and transmitted through Interpol,” the world’s biggest international police organization, he said.

Furthermore:

Many people wouldn’t guess it, but corruption is a big challenge for India. The problem isn’t new, but it has recently come under intense international focus. The fuss was sparked by this year’s Commonwealth Games, which are held between former British colonies, and were hosted in Dehli. Ironically, officials had hoped the games would showcase India’s increasing economic and political clout, but instead they were marred by deplorable living conditions for athletes and massive delays in building construction. It was soon revealed the blame for these circumstances could be traced to corruption. The chief of the...

WASHINGTON, DC —“The Drivers and Dynamics of Illicit Financial Flows from India: 1948-2008,” released today from Global Financial Integrity (GFI), estimates that tax evasion, crime, and corruption have removed gross illicit assets from India worth US $462 billion. The report also finds that the faster rates of economic growth since economic reform started in 1991 led to a deterioration of income distribution which led to more illicit flows from the country. Moreover, the report finds that the poor state of governance is reflected in a growing underground economy which in turn has fueled more transfers of illicit capital...