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Money laundering and illicit financial flows are two related, but distinct types of corruption that pose a huge threat to development and political and economic stability around the world. Developing countries are especially hard hit.
The two are closely linked to the concept of beneficial ownership, which is a term referring to the true owner of a company, even though it is registered in the name of, or run by someone else. The beneficial owner is the person who rakes in the profits, and this person may be several steps away from those who are publicly connected with the company.
Money laundering is the generic term used to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of the proceeds of criminal conduct by making those proceeds appear to have come from a legitimate source. Illicit financial flows, on the other hand, refer to the movement of money earned illegally and transferred across the border for use elsewhere.
We’ve put together this handy page which provides links to information and guidance on addressing these specific forms of corruption, which will expand in future as new additions are made.
Corruption Watch – glossary of corruption terms
Global Financial Integrity – illicit financial flows
How Stuff Works – how money laundering works
International Compliance Association – what is money laundering?
Interpol – money laundering
Investopedia – beneficial ownership
Investopedia – money laundering
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – introduction to money laundering
World Bank – illicit financial flows
African Development Bank – Integrity and anti-corruption strategy and practices
BBC – the language of corruption
Business Anti-corruption Portal – anti-corruption tools and resources
ICIJ – the Luxembourg Leaks
ICIJ – Luxembourg Leaks database
ICIJ – the Panama Papers
ICIJ – Panama Papers database – you can also download the database
International Anti-Corruption Resource Centre
International Monetary Fund – guide to promoting good governance and combating corruption
KPMG – second Africa Fraud Barometer (or download)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – useful documents on bribery and corruption
Transparency International – 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index
World Bank – resources on governance and anti-corruption
World Economic Forum – Clean Business is Good Business (PDF)
UNODC – eLearning centre
UN Principles for Responsible Investment – signatories
Financial Action Task Force
G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group
Global Initiative on Fiscal Transparency
International Compliance Association
International Money Laundering Information Network
Interpol
South Africa – National Anti-Corruption Forum
South Africa – Public Service Commission
UN Economic Commission for Africa
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
World Economic Forum – Global Agenda Council on Anti-Corruption and Transparency
African Union (AU) – Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption
OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions
SADC – Protocol Against Corruption (PDF)
UN Convention Against Corruption
UN Convention against Drugs
UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime
South Africa – Financial Intelligence Centre Act
South Africa – Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act
South Africa – Prevention of Organised Crime Act
AfDB / OECD initiative to support business integrity and anti-bribery efforts in Africa
African Parliamentarians’ Network Against Corruption
Ethic Intelligence – anti-corruption compliance tools
G20 – 2015-2016 Anti-Corruption Action Plan, Australia, 2014
G20 – 2015-16 Anti-Corruption Implementation Plan
G20 – High level principles on beneficial ownership transparency
KPMG – international corruption hotline
Transparency International – country enforcement of the OECD anti-bribery convention (2015)
UN Global Compact – anti-corruption
UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
UNODC – The Fight Against Corruption e-learning tool (on the UN Global Compact’s 10th principle against corruption and the UN Convention against Corruption as applied to the private sector)
World Bank – corruption hotline
World Bank and UNODC – Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative
World Economic Forum – Partnering Against Corruption Initiative
Africa Renewal – Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: track it, stop it, get it
AU – Report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa
FATF –Guidance on Transparency and Beneficial Ownership
Financial Transparency Coalition – No good reason for someone to have an anonymous company
Financial Transparency Coalition – The case for country by country reporting for multinationals
G20 – Guiding Principles on Enforcement of the Foreign Bribery Offence (2013) and note
Global Issues – Illicit financial flows (opinion)
OECD – key anti-corruption documents
Transparency International – Exporting Corruption: Progress Report 2014: Assessing enforcement of the OECD Convention on Combating Foreign Bribery
Transparency International – Just for show? Reviewing G20 promises on beneficial ownership
UNODC – Organised Crime
UNODC – Tracking Africa’s Stolen Billions
Wolfsberg principles on anti-money laundering – questions on beneficial ownership
World Bank – Asset Recovery Handbook
World Bank – “Corruption is “Public Enemy Number One” in Developing Countries”
World Bank – The Nine Key Principles of Asset Recovery, Benchmarking Survey of G20 Countries, Russia 2013
World Bank – Pirate Trails: Tracking the Illicit Financial Flows from Piracy off the Horn of Africa
World Bank – The puppet masters: how the corrupt use legal structures to hide stolen assets and what to do about it
UN International Anti-Corruption Day 9 December annually
Financial Action Task Force plenary and working group meetings 19 – 24 June, Busan, Korea
Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group, plenary meeting 29 August – 2 September, Harare, Zimbabwe