Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON DC – Illicit financial flows due to crime, corruption, and tax evasion cost Zambia $8.8 billion from 2001-2010, finds a forthcoming report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI).

In our newest report, Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries 2001-2010, we look at illicit financial flows--the proceeds of crime, corruption, and tax evasion--leaving the developing world. Illicit financial flows are a type of capital flight, and have been a persistent plague on the developing world for some time now. Our new report will be released on Tuesday morning. But for today, I want to focus more narrowly on Zambia, one of the poorest nations on earth and one of the clearest examples of the damage caused by both illicit and licit capital flight.

Léonce Ndikumana, a member of the Task Force Economist Advisory Council, appeared on The Real News to discuss his new research on capital flight from Africa. His work found that $1.6 trillion in capital flight and odious debt have left Africa from 1970-2010. Of that sum, he found that at least $619 billion had gone missing, and was illicit. Much of this, he argues, was facilitated by big western banks, tax havens, and other Western financial structures.

Real estate is often the choice conduit for money launderers to transfer money, primarily because it can be difficult to misprice, but also because of the way some countries write their laws.