Financial Transparency Coalition

JOHANNESBURG – Almost $6 billion was spirited out of Angola in 2009, according to new data on Wednesday that highlight how much of the war-scarred African nation's oil wealth is stolen by a corrupt elite.

Earlier this week, I attended a fascinating event in parliament, called ‘Africa’s Missing Millions’. My quibble that the title should actually be ‘billions’ didn’t deter a standing-room-only crowd gathering to hear Dev Kar from Global Financial Integrity talk about his research into the vast sums of money that flow out of poor countries on a daily basis. Dev estimates that in 2008, $1.26 trillion in illicit money left developing countries.   This is a problem that’s getting worse – with outflows rising 18% each year since 2000 – particularly in Africa, which is rising by 28% a year.  Over...

HONG KONG – Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the country’s annual budget on February 28, which contained measures to ease the tax burden on investment as well as changes to indirect taxes, proposals to tackle 'black money' and a commitment to move forward with the new Direct Taxes Code.

NEW DELHI – While the Union budget disappointed those hoping for an amnesty scheme for black money transactions, top North Block officials virtually ruled out any such plan in the future.