Financial Transparency Coalition

LONDON – As the 2010 Bribery Act comes into force on the 1st July, anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International UK warns that the enforcement of the new Act could be undermined by a lack of resources.

In the past year, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and British Prime Minister David Cameron have been fairly vocal about Pakistan not taxing its elites, while the US and UK give aid to the country. Of course, in a fragile state like Pakistan, statements by the UK and US governments on tax are no doubt motivated by the potential for tax reform to build a strong and responsive state – which is less likely to be a security concern internationally. But Finance Minister, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, has joined the call for the rich, legislators and media ‘moguls’ to...

LONDON – Global Witness welcomes today’s recognition by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that the majority of Britain’s banks are failing to do enough to identify corrupt money from abroad and that it is ‘likely that some banks are handling the proceeds of corruption’.

People only form companies for economic reasons. There really is no other reason to have one. Despite that just one in three companies in the UK pay tax. The data is based on the year to March 2010. All the details on how I got the data is in a report here. The facts are:

a)     There were about 2.6 million companies on the Register throughout most of that year.

b)     Of these about 500,000 claimed to be dormant.

c)     That leaves 2.1 million potentially taxable.

d)     But I guessed at least 180,000 of the...