Global Financial Integrity

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Archive for 2017

Romania’s Corruption Remains Undefeated Despite Progress

When in 2007 Romania joined the European Union (EU), it was one of the poorest and most corrupt nations in the union. Ten years later, Romania demonstrates the fastest economic growth in the EU (in 2016 GDP grew by 4.8 %), it is considered as the next tech-startup hub country, and its digital infrastructure makes it an attractive location for tech investments. Despite the growth in recent years, Romania is the second-worst in the EU for the risk of poverty and social exclusion. And while the government struggles to meet its budget collection target, corruption and mistrust in government impede economic development.

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Is Bulgaria Losing the War on Corruption?

Bulgaria is not only the poorest country in the European Union (EU) but also is the most corrupt; greater financial transparency would help address both challenges. Every year the country loses 14 and 22 percent of its...

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GFI Engages | Second Quarter 2017

High Level Engagement       Foundazione Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice In May, GFI President Raymond Baker participated in the annual meeting of the Foundazione Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice at Vatican City. On the second day, Raymond...

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Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation

Thank you. I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in CAPP Foundation’s 2017 conference. This morning we are focusing our attention on human smuggling and economic crime, as Lord Skidelsky will focus our attention this afternoon on incentivizing solidarity and civic virtue.

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The Illegal Wildlife Trade: Sample Retail Market Prices

In the illegal wildlife trade, like all transnational crime, the majority of participants are involved for financial gain. Retailers generally face little enforcement risk while realizing strong profits, as the value of a particular commodity, be it a wild African grey parrot or grams of bear bile, increases dramatically as it makes its way from source to market country.

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The Business of Transnational Crime

The groups engaged in transnational organized crime—from criminal networks to insurgent groups to terrorist organizations—are united by a common thread: money. All of the crimes covered in Global Financial Integrity’s new report Transnational Crime and the Developing World are overwhelmingly profit-motivated. Globally, transnational crime has an average annual retail value of $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion, based on 11 “industries”: counterfeiting and piracy, drug trafficking, illegal logging, human trafficking, illegal mining, illegal fishing, the illegal wildlife trade, crude oil theft, the trafficking of small arms and light weapons, the illegal organ trade, and the trafficking of cultural property.

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Panama Papers Anniversary Is Opportunity to Underscore Severity of the Problem

Believe it or not, the Panama Papers scandal has an upside: it shed light on the dark corners of the international financial system. Prior to the revelation that one law firm helped establish over 200,000 anonymous companies, the casual observer knew tax evasion, corruption, and money laundering occur in the world but they didn’t know quite how it works. Now the term “anonymous shell company” has some resonance and it is in the general lexicon — even if most people still can’t explain how they work.

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