January 26, 2011

Clark Gascoigne, +1 202-293-0740 ext.222

Event Advisory

Mexico City Press Briefing:
New Report on Illicit Financial Flows out of Mexico

Study Tracks Money Lost to Crime, Corruption, Tax Evasion

What: Press Conference
Time: 11:00am Local Time
Date: Monday, January 30, 2012
Room: Doña Sol
Venue: Hilton Mexico City Reforma Hotel (Map/Directions)
Where: Mexico City, Mexico

On Monday, January 30, 2012, Global Financial Integrity, a research and advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, will be releasing a study on illicit financial flows out of Mexico.  The report, “Mexico: Illicit Financial Flows, Macroeconomic Imbalances, and the Underground Economy,” measures and tracks the amount of illicit money (the proceeds of crime, corruption, and tax evasion) that left the country illegally over the 41 years between 1970 and 2010.

Proposals to Amend Foreign Bribery Law Could Significantly Undermine Human Rights, Commerce, U.S. Standing in the World

January 12, 2012
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202-293-0740 ext.222
Stefanie Ostfeld, +1 202-621-6674

WASHINGTON, DC – Earlier today more than 30 civil society and business groups, including human rights and anticorruption organizations, sent a letter to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate expressing their opposition to any efforts to amend the world’s flagship anticorruption legislation, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

The signatories, who include, among others¹, Amnesty International, Calvert Investments, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, EarthRights International, Global Financial Integrity, Global Witness, Human Rights Watch, International Corporate Accountability Roundtable, Jubilee USA Network, Open Society Policy Center, Oxfam America, Revenue Watch Institute and Transparency International-USA are concerned that Members of Congress in both the House and Senate are considering introducing legislation that would weaken the decades old law.

The organizations stated in their correspondence that any narrowing of the law, which serves as the model for other international anticorruption conventions and foreign anticorruption laws, would have a negative effect on global commerce, human rights, and the standing of the U.S. in the world.

Over US$900 Billion Illicitly Drained from Developing Countries in 2009, Says Annual GFI Study

Report Finds Developing World Lost US$8.44 Trillion over the Decade 2000-2009

December 15, 2011
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202-293-0740 ext.222

WASHINGTON, DC – Developing countries lost US$903 billion in illicit financial outflows in 2009 despite the massive slowdown in economic activity which rocked world markets in late 2008, finds a new study by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organization.

“Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries over the Decade Ending 2009,” which estimates the developing world lost US$8.44 trillion over the decade ending in 2009, is GFI’s annual update on the amount of money flowing out of developing economies via crime, corruption and tax evasion, and it is the first of GFI’s reports to include data for the year 2009.

“This is a breathtakingly large sum at a time when developing and developed countries alike are struggling to make ends meet,” said GFI Director Raymond Baker.  “This report should be a wake-up call to world leaders that more must be done to address these harmful outflows.”