NAGOYA, JAPAN—Consumer demand for expensive rosewood furniture and musical instruments in China and elsewhere is the primary driver of an ecologically devastating trade in illegal timber, according to a report published today by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Global Witness. The report, launched at the 10th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), shows how this ongoing trade has been facilitated by the complicity of some of Madagascar’s state authorities and weak law-enforcement by the country’s transitional government.
WASHINGTON, DC—The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development is pleased to announce that Greece will become the newest member of the Task Force’s Partnership Panel. Task Force Partnership Panel members include the Governments of Norway, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the Ford Foundation.
WASHINGTON, DC—The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) became the 100th organization to sign on as an Allied Organization of the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development, the global coalition announced today. Allied Organizations lend their name and support to Task Force initiatives and are added to a distribution list-serve for Task Force news and reports.
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND—Christian Aid Scotland and the Church of Scotland today launch a joint report to raise awareness of the billions lost to developing countries from tax evasion and avoidance and to call on the International Accounting Standards Board to introduce an international country-by-country reporting standard.
CHRISTIAN AID—More than a billion people across the world will go to bed hungry on Saturday, the day the United Nations has designated World Food Day. The growing food crisis, which is leaving millions of people without enough to eat, has inequality at its root. Most markets have plenty of food, yet the price has risen beyond the reach of ordinary people.
LONDON—British high street banks have accepted millions of pounds in deposits from corrupt Nigerian politicians, raising serious questions about their commitment to tackling financial crime, warned Global Witness in a report published today. By taking money from corrupt Nigerian governors between 1999 and 2005, Barclays, NatWest, RBS, HSBC and UBS helped to fuel corruption and entrench poverty in Nigeria.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—A pioneering new measurement of government public disclosure in managing oil, gas and minerals ranks Brazil and Norway highest among 41 countries for making public detailed information about these key resources, the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) and Transparency International (TI) announced today.
BERGEN, NORWAY—The Honorable Dr. Rafael Espada, Vice President of Guatemala, will address participants of the second annual Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development conference tonight to close out the first day of the two-day conference. The Vice President is expected to highlight recent initiatives by the Guatemalan government aimed at improving transparency and best governance practices.
WASHINGTON, DC — The G20 Summit in Toronto June 27th-28th was heavy on promises and lean on concrete action items, notes the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development. While the G20 expressed a strong desire to “close the development gap,” increase transparency, and tackle corruption and money laundering, there was a notable lack of language indicating an understanding of the interconnected nature of these different problems.
MADRID—Representatives from Eurodad, a member of the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development, took the floor at the Repsol shareholders meeting on April 30 in Madrid and called on the firm to support a country by country reporting standard for the extractive industry. Repsol is the world’s 15th largest petroleum refining company.
WASHINGTON, DC — The European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD), comprised of 59 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from 18 European countries working on debt, development finance, and poverty reduction, has joined the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) announced today.
WASHINGTON, DC — The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development welcomes the news that Task Force Coordinating Committee member Chile has enacted legislation enhancing access to bank information for the purposes of improved compliance with OECD standards on tax information exchange and increased transparency in financial transactions.
Task Force Director Raymond Baker spoke to MBA students at Georgia Tech (his alma mater) ...
Standing at the pump, watching the numbers tick away, do you ever wonder where the ...
Half of the world's trade passes through tax havens. Right now, they are hiding billions ...
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) Managing Director Tom Cardamone will testify tomorrow ...
May 23, 2012
BRUSSELS - Tax is joining high pay as an issue at FTSE100 companies’ AGMs this ...
May 22, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) today called on leaders of the G8 to ...
May 17, 2012
Thursday's daily news updates from Global Financial Integrity
May 24, 2012
In Brazil, there is an agency known as “the Lion,” whose agents fly around the ...
May 23, 2012
The G8 have just released an ambitious and comprehensive asset recovery action plan as part ...
May 23, 2012
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