Financial Transparency Coalition

LONDON—Christian Aid is calling on the winner of this Sunday’s general election in Tanzania to commit to ending tax anomalies that have deprived a country rich in mineral resources of badly needed revenue that could have been spent on schools, hospitals and other infrastructure improvements.

LONDON—Multinational companies could be forced to reveal far more about their finances in developing countries following a European Commission move which Christian Aid experts welcomed as ‘hugely exciting’.

NAIROBI—Kenya lost about Sh156 billion between 2000 and 2008 to illicit outflows of capital perpetuated by wealthy businesspeople and multinationals. These resources can finance about 70 per cent of Kenya's 2010/11 development budget of Sh222 billion.

I presented the new report I have written for a range of NGOs entitled ‘Investment for Development: Derailed to Tax Havens’ in Bergen last evening. I did so sitting next to Kjell Roland, the Managing Director of NorFund – the Norwegian Development Finance Institution. Kjell said to the audience present he imagined that Norfund could sign up straight away to the Coe of Conduct I have proposed. I hope it does. I hope it leads the way in persuading others to do so.