Global Witness - Breaking the links between natural resources, conflict and corruption
Congress Presses Oil Companies to Halt Secret Payments
Press Release – 26/06/2008
Media release for June 26, 2008
Today the House Financial Services Committee is deliberating legislation that would enhance U.S. energy security and curb corruption in poor countries by casting light on payments made to foreign governments by oil, gas and mining companies.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure (EITD) Act, introduced by Chairman Barney Frank, is a simple and low-cost change to Securities and Exchange Commission rules to ensure that SEC-regulated oil and mining firms, including US companies and most of their main competitors from Europe, Russia and China, disclose their payments to foreign governments.
The Bill is needed because payments like taxes and royalties are kept secret in many countries, so citizens cannot check how much their governments are earning and how the money is being used.
"Countries are making record profits from selling oil and minerals. The Bill will help ensure that this money is used to lift millions of people out of poverty, not to enrich corrupt elites and create instability that threatens U.S. interests," said Corinna Gilfillan, the U.S. head of Global Witness, a non-profit group which campaigns to break the links between natural resources, conflict and corruption.
Some special interest groups have argued that the Bill would harm the interests of U.S. energy companies. But today Global Witness is publishing "Myths and Facts", a briefing on the Bill which explains why U.S. companies will actually gain from more transparency.
"At a time when oil companies are making profits of hundreds of millions of dollars a day, we hope they will welcome a bill which would ensure fair competition with Chinese and other foreign oil companies, " said Global Witness Policy Adviser Sasha Lezhnev.
The EITD Bill would promote U.S. interests by combating corruption and improving the stability of U.S. investments abroad through improved governance in oil-producing countries. The bill is a powerful tool for poverty reduction, as transparency will enable oil revenues to be managed in a more accountable way.
For media inquiries, contact:
- Sasha Lezhnev, Global Witness. Tel: +1-202-721-5634 or sasha@globalwitness.org
- Corinna Gilfillan, Global Witness. Tel: +1-202-725-8705
For further information, see www.openthebooks.org and www.globalwitness.org
Downloads
Latest Publications
March 2010
DR Congo: ex-rebels take over mineral trade extortion racket
Former rebels from the Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP) have established mafia-style extortion rackets covering some of the most lucrative tin and tantalum mining areas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Global Witness reported today following four weeks of research in the region.
Global Witness concerned at choice of new Ukraine energy minister
Global Witness is concerned that Yuri Boyko, a controversial figure from the murky past of Ukraine’s gas industry, has been put back in effective charge of a key gas supply route from Russia to the European Union.
Landmark oil and mining transparency initiative faces credibility test as key deadline passes
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a pioneering initiative to bring more openness to the world's oil and mining industries, faces a major credibility test after 20 out of 22 countries failed to meet a key deadline today.
Global Witness urges Cambodia’s donors to condemn sponsorship of military units by private businesses
Aid donors to Cambodia, including the US, EU, Japan, China and the World Bank, should send a strong message to the government that they will not countenance the bankrolling of Cambodia’s military by private businesses. This call follows the announcement last week by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen of the formation of 42 official partnerships between private businesses and Cambodian military units.
February 2010
A near miss? Lessons learnt from the allocation of mining licences in the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone
Between 2005 and 2007, two mining licences were issued in the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone, even though the area was a proposed national park. This new report identifies weaknesses in Sierra Leone's natural resource governance and attempts to draw lessons for the future.
Parliamentary committee report on libel, privacy and press freedom not strong enough to defend public interest reporting
A report on press standards, privacy and libel makes broadly sensible recommendations but does not go far enough to allay fears that England's laws are a barrier to public-interest campaigning.
Campaigners criticise proposals to define palm oil plantations as forests
The Ecosystems Climate Alliance today criticised the EU and Indonesia for attempting to reclassify palm oil plantations as forests, saying this would be a step backwards in efforts to halt climate change though preventing deforestation.
28 countries accused of facilitating money laundering … but key offenders missing
An international financial crime watchdog has named and shamed countries that are failing to stop dirty money entering the financial system, a move welcomed by Global Witness. However, conspicuously absent are major financial centres and secrecy jurisdictions, many of which also have serious weaknesses in their anti-money laundering regulations.
Metals in mobile phones financing brutal war in Congo
Metals found in everyday electronics items, such as mobile phones and computers, are being mined illegally in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and funding a conflict that has caused millions of deaths, said Global Witness on the opening day of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
