Financial Transparency Coalition

Last November, a former special agent for the Treasury Department, John Cassara, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times with the headline “Delaware, Den of Thieves?” Cassara described how the state of Delaware (along with Wyoming and Nevada) has become “nearly synonymous with underground financing, tax evasion and other bad deeds facilitated by anonymous shell companies”. He told of his frustration as a law enforcement officer trying to get information out of Delaware about the real owners and controllers of companies registered in the state. This week, a debate has started in Delaware about...

Late last year, David Cameron announced that the UK would put the names of the people who own and control British companies into the public domain – something that we at Global Witness have long been campaigning for, alongside other NGOs such as ONE and Christian Aid. Such transparency is important because it’s well known that people who want to hide dirty money use the anonymity provided by companies to do so. There are plenty of examples of British companies being abused in this way.

G8 countries have yet to live up to the important commitments they made on tax and transparency at their Northern Ireland summit a year ago.  According to new analysis by Christian Aid, Action Aid, Global Witness and the Financial Transparency Coalition the UK government needs to build on its leadership if there is to be a strong and lasting legacy to the tax commitments made at Lough Erne. At the gathering hosted by David Cameron at Lough Erne on 17^th and 18^th June 2013, G8 leaders declared that they would tackle some of the ways in which rich and poor...

Britain’s credibility as a global leader in the fight to end corruption is under real threat.  Its fate lies in the hands of the Governor of a sunny, palm-fringed Caribbean island who was appointed by the UK itself. Last year, as chair of the G8, the UK committed to creating public registries of the real owners of companies. This was a hugely important move by the UK and one we support wholeheartedly. With global support, such a measure could put a stop to some of the worst problems of our time;...