February 22nd, 2011
LONDON – The UK government’s decision to back a ‘publish-what-you-pay’ standard for mining and other ‘extractive’ companies across the world is an exciting and welcome move which will challenge corruption in the oil, mining and gas sectors but does not go far enough to tackle the massive damage done by tax dodging and financial secrecy, Christian Aid says today.
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February 4th, 2011
An article the other week in the Ugandan
Daily Monitor quotes an official from the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Mr. Patrick Mukiibi, on the value and implications of illicit flows from that country. According to the article, Uganda loses UGX 2 trillion (approx. USD 866 million) annually through “tax crime”, also termed “economic and tax fraud”. The Ugandan Ministry of Finance says that the current fiscal year (2010/2011) government budget is UGX 7.5 trillion (approx. USD 3.2 billion), and it will need loans and other development assistance to cover 26 percent of this. In other words, the article...
January 15th, 2011
Tax is the foundation of all civilisations. The act of tracing tax policies and practices reveals the history of the relationship between the ruler and the ruled, state and citizen.
In Africa this relationship can be traced back over millennia. For instance, Egypt’s famed Rosetta Stone, created in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic era, was an agreement granting a tax exemption to priests, and certain reductions to the military and other ruling classes, including traders approved by the king. it was an early example of the special privileges that continue to proliferate across the continent.
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December 2nd, 2010
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:
