WASHINGTON – Corrupt foreign officials and their relatives have used gaps in U.S. law and the assistance of U.S. professionals to funnel millions of dollars in illicit money into the United States, an investigation by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has found. [PDF]
On 27th January 2010, the OECD hosted a joint meeting of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs and the Development Assistance Committee, bringing together the tax and development communities for the first time. Participants agreed on a set of general principles to guide follow up action.
A new Global Witness report, ‘The Secret Life of a Shopaholic: How an African dictator’s playboy son went on a multi-million dollar shopping spree in the US’, strongly suggests that Teodorin Obiang, son of the dictator of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, purchased a $33 million private jet, a $35 million Malibu mansion, speedboats and a fleet of fast cars using corruptly acquired funds. The report goes on to explain how, despite the ample evidence against him, the investigation is going nowhere and Teodorin continues to be allowed into the U.S.
Full text of the Criteria for Granting Assistance Pursuant to the Treaty Request in the August 2009 Agreement Between the United States of America and the Swiss Confederation on the request for information from the Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America regarding UBS AG, a corporation established under the laws of the Swiss Confederation.
Final Communiqué from the meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in St. Andrews, United Kingdom.
Full Remarks of Attorney General Eric Holder at the Opening Plenary of the VI Ministerial Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity in Doha, Qatar.
WASHINGTON – Legislation introduced by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., to stop the formation of U.S. corporations with hidden owners will be the subject of a Thursday hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs.
The final report of Michael Foot’s Review of the opportunities and challenges facing the British Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey) and six Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Turks and Caicos Islands) was published on 29 October. The recommendations made to these jurisdictions cover: the quality and extent of economic planning; meeting international standards on tax transparency, financial sector regulation, and tackling financial crime; ensuring that deposit protection schemes can be understood by depositors; considering whether an Ombudsman scheme is justified; and crisis prevention and resolution measures.
Summary: Recent events have highlighted the growing use of foreign financial institutions, foreign trusts, and foreign corporations by U.S. individuals to evade U.S. tax. In order to prevent this tax evasion, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 would provide the U.S. Treasury Department with significant new tools to find and prosecute U.S. individuals that hide assets overseas from the Internal Revenue Service.
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D‐Mont.), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D‐NY), senior Senate Finance Committee member John Kerry (D‐MA) and Ways and Means Select Revenue Subcommittee Chairman Richard Neal (D‐MA) today unveiled a comprehensive proposal to clamp down on tax evasion and improve taxpayer compliance by giving the IRS new administrative tools to detect, deter and discourage offshore tax abuses.
“Economic Transparency: Curtailing the Shadow Financial System” provides an overview of the work that the Task Force is doing. From laying out the framework of our mission, to detailing the specifics of each priority, this document is an excellent all in one resource.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) have jointly conducted an assessment of the implementation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standards in Aruba.
The final communiqué from the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.
Today, the US and Swiss Governments formally signed the “Protocol Amending The Convention Between The Swiss Confederation And The United States Of America For The Avoidance Of Double Taxation With Respect To Taxes On Income, Signed At Washington On October 2, 1996.” Attached is the text of the protocol, and below are notes from the US and notes from the Swiss clarifying certain points.
The private sector plays a pivotal role in fighting corruption worldwide. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report 2009 documents in unique detail the many corruption risks for businesses, ranging from small entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa to multinationals from Europe and North America. More than 75 experts examine the scale, scope and devastating consequences of a wide range of corruption issues, including bribery and policy capture, corporate fraud, cartels, corruption in supply chains and transnational transactions, emerging challenges for carbon trading markets, sovereign wealth funds and, growing economic centres, such as Brazil, China and India.
The Task Force on Financial Integrity & Economic Development
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Email: info@financialtaskforce.org
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