First published on Financial Transparency Coalition During the last decade, Russia has expanded its interests and presence in Africa by investing in the mining sector and increasing military support to fragile states, primarily through private military contractors and mercenaries. One of Africa’s most prominent private military groups is the Wagner Group, believed to be financed by one Read more >
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CORRUPTION NEWS
Illicit financial flows create an unjust society and further worsen inequality, especially for underdeveloped countries. This is the message from the Tax Justice Network (TJN), which released its 2022 Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) on 16 May. The FSI is a ranking of jurisdictions which fuel financial secrecy by helping individuals to hide their finances from Read more >
OPINIONS
By Mashudu Masutha and Karabo RajuiliFirst published on News24 The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global standard-setting body for combating money laundering, setting minimum standards via 40 recommendations. It has sanctioning mechanisms for countries that fail to comply. Recently, the organisation updated its Recommendation 24, which deals with beneficial ownership transparency – and Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
By Maureen Kariuki, Karabo Rajuili and and Edwin Wuadom WardenFirst published on Open Government Partnership Corporate anonymity poses significant risks to domestic resource mobilisation in Africa. Research by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) suggests that African countries can retain an estimated US$89-billion per year if illicit capital flight can be addressed. Accelerating Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
Image: Michael Kuhlmann for UNCTAD Over one trillion dollars. That’s the amount of money that Africa is estimated to have lost in illicit financial flows (IFFs) over the past 50 years (Kar and Cartwright-Smith, 2010; Africa Growth Initiative, 2020). The current estimate is an annual amount of around $50-billion, and possibly more – a significant Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
Beneficial ownership is back in the news at the moment. Opacity in knowledge of the real person behind a company, trust, or corporation, and who will ultimately benefit from its activities – the beneficial owner – is crucial to combating money laundering, tax abuse, and corruption. Illicit financial flows (IFFs) cost money, resources, and Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
By Liesl Louw-Vaudran First published on the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) The African Union (AU) has marked 2018 as the African anti-corruption year, with the theme of Winning the Fight Against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation. Anti-corruption activists and organisations across the continent will be happy to hear this. It comes at Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
The problem with illicit financial flows is not just that they are illicit, but that their effect spreads far beyond their immediate area of occurrence. Millions of people are affected, economies are weakened, and development is halted, while a shady few accumulate wealth and influence. A high level conference, held on 14 July at Pretoria Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
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 Read more >
