Curtailing Illegal Capital Flight Will Ensure Food Security in Developing World; Make Good on L’Aquila Commitment

May 17, 2012
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) today called on leaders of the G8 to concretely tackle the issue of illicit financial flows and end tax haven secrecy when they meet this weekend at Camp David. Illegal capital flight costs the developing world roughly $1 trillion per year, according to GFI research.

“A major focus of this weekend’s summit is the issue of food security in the developing world,” said GFI Director Raymond W. Baker.  “What better way to ensure food security than to guarantee that developing countries have the finances necessary to invest in agriculture and nutrition programs?  We cannot reach a post-aid-dependent world without curtailing illicit financial flows.”

GFI is calling on G8 leaders this weekend to prioritize the implementation of the following concrete policy measures:

Legislation Enjoys Support of Law Enforcement, Obama Administration; Would Clean-Up American Financial System

May 16, 2012
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, 41 business and civil society groups sent a letter to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate urging them to co-sponsor the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (S. 1483/ H.R. 3416). This bipartisan bill, which is endorsed by the Obama Administration, would require companies to disclose their ultimate owners at the time of incorporation, making it much harder for corrupt politicians, tax dodgers, terrorists and other criminals to form and hide behind anonymous U.S. shell companies.

The signatories¹, who include, among others, American Sustainable Business Council, Calvert Investments, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Citizens for Tax Justice, Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, CtW Investment Group, Domini Social Investments LLC, Friends of the Earth – US, Global Financial Integrity, Global Witness, Human Rights Watch, Jubilee USA Network, Main Street Alliance, Oxfam America, Project On Government Oversight, Revenue Watch Institute, Sunlight Foundation and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, are concerned that it is legal to form companies in the United States with hidden ownership.

The letter states:

GFI Spokespeople Available for Comment on Apple, Tax Avoidance, Transfer Mispricing, Tax Haven Abuse

April 30, 2012
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHIGNTON, DC – A front-page article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times drew attention to shady accounting techniques utilized by Apple Inc, the technology giant, to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes each year.  However, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) notes that Apple’s tax dodging is only one example of a larger problem: most multinational enterprises abuse tax haven secrecy.  Tax haven abuses are estimated to cost the Internal Revenue Service US$100 billion per year and developing economies roughly US$1 trillion annually.

Global Financial Integrity spokespeople are available to comment on: