June 29, 2009

Monique Perry Danziger,  202-293.0740

Washington, DC — Global Financial Integrity (GFI) urges the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to remain steadfast in its pursuit of information about the suspected 52,000 secret bank accounts held by U.S. citizens with Swiss bank UBS.

“This is about bringing to justice tens of thousands of tax-evading Americans and making it clear that the U.S. will no longer tolerate this type of behavior,” said GFI director Raymond Baker. “If we let UBS off the hook with a fine we’re letting the world know that U.S. laws may be flouted, bent, or just plain broken provided you have the cash to pay your way out of trouble.”

Mr. Baker also noted that the U.S.-Switzerland Tax Treaty agreement reached earlier in the month would do little to help tax authorities investigate and prosecute cases of tax evasion.

June 18, 2009

Monique Perry Danziger,  202-293.0740

Washington, DC — The Norwegian Commission on Capital Flight from Developing Countries released a report today on illicit financial flows from developing countries and tax havens and put forward recommendations for reform efforts to be considered by the Norwegian Government.

Drawing on research from Global Financial Integrity (GFI) and Tax Justice Network (TJN) to define the scope and consequences of illicit monetary outflows from developing countries, the report concludes that illicit outflows exceed development finance inflows.

The Commission also makes recommendations for reform measures including:

June 17, 2009

Monique Perry Danziger,  202-293.0740

Washington, DC — The Task Force for Financial Integrity and Economic Development (Task Force) released a report today detailing a new system of accounting for multinational corporations (MNCs) designed to increase transparency and curtail tax evasion.  

Termed “country-by-country reporting” the new protocol would require MNCs to disclose the full details of their commercial transactions by jurisdiction, instead of the current system which requires reporting along product of division lines.  As much as 60 percent of global trade currently takes place within MNCs, which are not required to disclose many salient details of their trade practices under the existing regulatory framework.