Financial Transparency Coalition

The U.S. government has long recognized that it does not have enough information on the identities of its contractors – those that help protect our national security, provide medical and educational services, and build infrastructure.   “here is no database in the U.S. government” that provides reliable subcontractor information. -Ray DiNunzio, Special Investigator General for Afghanistan

Congratulations to Professor Prem Sikka, a senior adviser to the Tax Justice Network, for his extraordinary success on the case of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). Information on the investigation into BCCI, that was previously withheld from the public by the UK government, has now been released. Prem has fought a legal battle for five years so that missing information in the "Sandstorm Report" could be made publicly available. The case of BCCI, (referred to by many as "Bank of Crooks and Commerce International"), is possibly the biggest banking fraud in history. BCCI is a story of massive-scale Continue Reading

The FT has reported:

Organised criminals in the UK are becoming increasingly involved in financial frauds including insider share dealing that they see as lucrative and low risk, investigators have warned. The trend – for 15 years a concern of US securities market regulators – is only now being explored in Britain where authorities are facing criticism for failing to co-ordinate on tackling financial crime. Paul Evans, Soca’s (Serious Organised Crime Agency) director of intervention, said those people targeted by his agency – which covers areas such as drugs, people trafficking and extortion –...

As many of you know, tomorrow (Wednesday, December 9th, 2009) is International Anti-Corruption Day. Among the days festivities, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is sponsoring a roundtable on the fight against bribery and corruption, and Task Force member Transparency International is hosting a lecture with Lord Robertson of Port Ellen. Both of the events should be fascinating if you get a chance to attend. It's also important to remember that on a day as symbolically important as tomorrow, we (in the developed world) have a tendency to think of corruption solely as a problem...