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.

June 8, 2009

Monique Perry Danziger,  202-293.0740

Washington, D.C.—Global Financial Integrity (GFI) Advisory Board member Eva Joly has been elected to the European Parliament as one of four Green Party candidates chosen by French voters after four days of voting in the 27 European Union nations.

 Ms. Joly is famous as the French magistrate who ignored threats on her life to investigate and uncover bribery and corruption within the French government and expose several cases of fraud at France’s leading oil company – Elf Aquitaine in the nineties.   In September 2005, Ms. Joly accepted a position with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) where she focused on efforts to combat international corruption.   Prior to that, she served as assistant secretary general within the Norwegian Ministry of Justice where she was responsible for combating corruption and money laundering.  

 In an interview with the French publication Le Monde, Ms. Joly stated that she would like to create a commission in charge of studying the impact of illicit financial outflows from developing countries and the role of tax havens and other secrecy jurisdictions.  

Ms. Joly has been a member of the Advisory Board since its formation in 2006 and an active participant in GFI initiatives including the recent launch of the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development.   In December 2008, she co-authored a piece with GFI director Raymond Baker for the French publication Commentaire titled “Illicit Financial Flows: The Next Big Issue in Political Economy.” 

May 29, 2009

Monique Perry Danziger,  202-293.0740

Washington, DC - Dev Kar, Lead Economist for Global Financial Integrity (GFI) and author of the highly-publicized GFI report "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2002-2006," will visit Mumbai, Pune, Jamshedpur, Calcutta, and Delhi over the course of a three-week tour of India starting Monday, June 1st.

Mr. Kar will be talking about his work on illicit financial flows including measuring quantity and patterns of illicit outflows from developing countries and tracking illicit flight capital once it leaves its country of origin.

Mr. Kar will also be discussing the impact of illicit capital flight on developing economies, U.S. and international initiatives to increase transparency within the global financial system, and what individual nations, such as India, may do to curtail yearly outflows of "black money' that cumulatively drain as much as $1 trillion a year out of the developing world-$27 billion from India alone.