Former UN Secretary-General Calls for Public Disclosure of Corporate Ownership Information

2013 Africa Progress Report Features GFI Research, Highlights Devastating Impact of Tax Haven Secrecy, Phantom Firms on Development

Forthcoming Joint Report from AfDB and GFI Released May 29^th to Examine Economic Toll of IFFs on Africa

May 10, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) lauded former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Africa Progress Panel (APP), which he chairs, for highlighting the devastating impact that illicit financial outflows have on economic development and poverty alleviation across the continent in the 2013 Africa Progress Report published today.  The APP report cites GFI’s research on illicit financial flows and calls upon the G8 to require full, public disclosure of the beneficial ownership information of all corporate entities within the next year.

“Illicit financial flows—facilitated by tax haven secrecy and anonymous shell companies—are the most damaging economic problem facing the African continent,” said GFI President Raymond Baker, a longtime authority on financial crime. “GFI’s research shows that illicit financial outflows cost Sub-Saharan Africa $385 billion between 2001-2010.  That’s nearly $400 billion that could have been used to invest in healthcare, education, and infrastructure—that could have been used to pull people out of poverty and save lives.  Mr. Annan and the Africa Progress Panel have done a major service to the people of Africa in highlighting this menace.”

Senate Ratification of Treaties Crucial to Stopping Tax Evaders, Continuing International Momentum for Automatic Exchange of Tax Information

International Business Groups Have Also Called on Paul to Resolve the Legal Uncertainty Caused by Delay

May 2, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization, urged Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) today to allow the U.S. Senate to vote on treaties negotiated by the U.S. with Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hungary, and other countries to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), ferreting out U.S. tax evaders.  Senate rules allow any Senator to place a “hold” on legislation removing it from consideration, and Sen. Paul has placed holds on bills to implement every tax treaty negotiated since his election in 2010.

FATCA—adopted in 2010 as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act—requires foreign financial institutions to report information on the accounts of U.S. customers to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or a tax on all of the foreign bank’s U.S.-source income will automatically be withheld before being transferred to the bank. The U.S. Treasury is in the process of negotiating inter-governmental agreements with over fifty jurisdictions to streamline the process.

Bipartisan Study Features GFI Research, Endorses Eliminating Phantom Firms

Senate Drug Caucus Report Quotes GFI’s Heather Lowe, Highlight’s GFI’s Research on Trade-Based Money Laundering

April 26, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC / LONDON – A bipartisan Congressional report published Thursday by the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control (Senate Drug Caucus) emphasizes cracking down on money laundering as key to curtailing the illicit drug trade.  Quoting heavily from Global Financial Integrity (GFI) experts and research, the study endorses eliminating anonymous U.S. shell companies through the passage of the bipartisan Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act, bolstering enforcement of existing anti-money laundering (AML) policies, and strengthening anti-money laundering laws through passage of the bipartisan Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Counterfeiting Act.

“You simply cannot curtail the drug trade without curtailing drug money,” said GFI Director Raymond Baker, a longtime authority on financial crime.  “The UN estimates that worldwide, over 40 percent of cocaine is seized somewhere between production and consumption.  However, less than half of one percent of laundered criminal money is interdicted globally.  We’ve put the cart before the horse, and the Senate Drug Caucus clearly recognizes that.”