Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, DC – Russia hemorrhaged over US$501 billion in illicit financial outflows in the ten years following Vladimir Putin’s rise to power according to a forthcoming report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organization. The study, Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries over the Decade Ending 2009, finds the nation lost more than US$50 billion per year from 2000 through 2009—making it the third largest victim of illegal capital flight. The data, revealed in a blog post today by GFI Economist Sarah Freitas on the website of the Task Force on Financial Integrity & Economic...

As tremors of distrust resonate throughout Russia due to widely-believed allegations of fraud in Sunday’s Parliamentary elections, new research reveals that US$501.3 billion in illicit money has left the country in the ten years (2000-2009) following Vladimir Putin's rise to power. The forthcoming report, Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries over the Decade Ending 2009, is to be published next week by Global Financial Integrity (GFI). To make matters worse, The Wall Street Journal reports that Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has predicted net capital flight upwards of US$85 billion for this year, further adding to the illicit...

An explosion of anti-corruption protests this month saw effigies burnt in India, hundreds protesting in Russia, and mass riots in China. As tensions rise, the focus of the anti-corruption debate has begun to shift. Instead of seeing corruption as hurtful because it destroys the environment, weakens governments, and harms the poor, some governments have begun to see corruption as hurtful because of its economic consequences. A recent Moscow Times article by Anders Aslund incorporates this shift in thinking. Claiming corruption is so pervasive that investments to increase productivity are virtually impossible, Aslund writes: “Russia cannot build public infrastructure because standard...

WASHINGTON, DC – After nearly a year of delays, the UK Bribery Act went into effect on July 1st. The act mandates stiff penalties, including up to 10 years in jail, for bribes paid by any business with a UK presence. In an ironic twist, while the UK Act is being touted as an extension to its cross-Atlantic counterpart, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-bribery proponents charge that the FCPA is under attack.