More on the G8 - click here.
G8 leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to roll back the frontiers of corporate secrecy and put a stop to the use of shell companies by money launderers, corrupt politicians, drug... read more
News and reports
14.06.2013 | G8 must seize historic opportunity to end corporate secrecy and usher in an age of transparency
14.06.2013 | G8 2013
Leaders of the G8 countries will gather in Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland between 17–18 June 2013 for the 39th G8 summit. In January this year David Cameron announced that trade, tax and transparency... read more
Landmark legislation a major defeat for Big Oil and boosts UK’s G8 push for extractive industries transparency
Today the European Parliament voted through legislation that will force natural resource companies to... read more
05.06.2013 | The Economist supports global transparency standard
Today The Economist came out in support of the campaign “to put a stop to hidden company ownership and to make energy and mining companies disclose more about the payments they make to win concessions.”
Global Witness... read more
01.06.2013 | Anonymous companies: A Global Witness briefing
Money launderers, corrupt politicians, terrorists, arms traffickers, drug smugglers, and tax evaders all rely on two things to move their dirty money: company structures that allow them to hide their identity, and banks... read more
30.05.2013 | Announcing the Financial Transparency Coalition
By Porter McConnell - Manager of the Financial Transparency Coalition.
When the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development was created in 2009, only a handful of experts were following the issue of... read more
There have been two cost/benefit analyses carried out looking at the costs of a beneficial ownership registry: one done by the UK in 2002 and one done by the European Commission in 2007. Both concluded that public... read more
09.05.2013 | Global Witness welcomes Kofi Annan’s call for financial transparency in African resource deals
Campaign group Global Witness has backed a call by prominent figures including Kofi Annan, Bob Geldof and Graca Machel for Africa’s natural resource wealth to be used for the benefit of its people. This year’s report... read more
09.05.2013 | Oil law before Congo parliament fails to safeguard against corruption or environmental damage – Global Witness
Planned revisions to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s hydrocarbons law contain major flaws that could allow gross mismanagement of the country’s oil wealth and serious environmental impacts. The draft text,... read more
Global Witness raised repeated concerns of corruption risks over opaque mining deals in Congo
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced yesterday that they are opening a criminal investigation into FTSE 100... read more
Beny Steinmetz Group Resources says there was no corrupt behaviour in its acquisition of licences to one of the world’s largest iron ore concessions, in the West African nation of Guinea. It asserts that the wife of a... read more
The US authorities have arrested a man in Florida in connection with the controversial acquisition of mining rights in Guinea by Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), according to a US court document and a press... read more
11.03.2013 | Eni era a conoscenza che il pagamento di 1,1 miliardi di dollari era destinato a un pregiudicato che riciclava denaro
To read in English, click here.
L’Italia deve garantire l’evidenza di tali pagamenti in conformità alla nuova direttiva sulla trasparenza
Secondo gli atti di un caso recentemente al vaglio della High Court del Regno... read more
To read about Shell's alleged meeting with Etete, click here. Leggi in italiano
Italy must ensure new Transparency Directive reveals such payments
Proceedings in a recent UK High Court case have revealed that Italian... read more
To read about ENI's alleged meetings with Etete, click here.
Meanwhile Shell attempts to weaken laws that will reveal such payments
Proceedings in a recent UK High Court case have revealed that Royal Dutch Shell... read more
14.06.2013 | G8 must seize historic opportunity to end corporate secrecy and usher in an age of transparency
More on the G8 - click here.
G8 leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to roll back the frontiers of corporate secrecy and put a stop to the use of shell companies by money launderers, corrupt politicians, drug... read more
14.06.2013 | G8 2013
Leaders of the G8 countries will gather in Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland between 17–18 June 2013 for the 39th G8 summit. In January this year David Cameron announced that trade, tax and transparency... read more
Landmark legislation a major defeat for Big Oil and boosts UK’s G8 push for extractive industries transparency
Today the European Parliament voted through legislation that will force natural resource companies to... read more
09.05.2013 | Global Witness welcomes Kofi Annan’s call for financial transparency in African resource deals
Campaign group Global Witness has backed a call by prominent figures including Kofi Annan, Bob Geldof and Graca Machel for Africa’s natural resource wealth to be used for the benefit of its people. This year’s report... read more
09.05.2013 | Oil law before Congo parliament fails to safeguard against corruption or environmental damage – Global Witness
Planned revisions to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s hydrocarbons law contain major flaws that could allow gross mismanagement of the country’s oil wealth and serious environmental impacts. The draft text,... read more
Global Witness raised repeated concerns of corruption risks over opaque mining deals in Congo
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced yesterday that they are opening a criminal investigation into FTSE 100... read more
Beny Steinmetz Group Resources says there was no corrupt behaviour in its acquisition of licences to one of the world’s largest iron ore concessions, in the West African nation of Guinea. It asserts that the wife of a... read more
The US authorities have arrested a man in Florida in connection with the controversial acquisition of mining rights in Guinea by Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), according to a US court document and a press... read more
11.03.2013 | Eni era a conoscenza che il pagamento di 1,1 miliardi di dollari era destinato a un pregiudicato che riciclava denaro
To read in English, click here.
L’Italia deve garantire l’evidenza di tali pagamenti in conformità alla nuova direttiva sulla trasparenza
Secondo gli atti di un caso recentemente al vaglio della High Court del Regno... read more
To read about Shell's alleged meeting with Etete, click here. Leggi in italiano
Italy must ensure new Transparency Directive reveals such payments
Proceedings in a recent UK High Court case have revealed that Italian... read more
To read about ENI's alleged meetings with Etete, click here.
Meanwhile Shell attempts to weaken laws that will reveal such payments
Proceedings in a recent UK High Court case have revealed that Royal Dutch Shell... read more
Shareholders of London-listed Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation will meet on Friday 28 December to vote on a $550 million deal aimed at buying out its main copper-and-cobalt mining partner in the Democratic... read more
Global Witness welcomes the public response of the Ministry of Mines to our Copper Bottomed? report on Afghanistan’s biggest private investment and the country’s first major extractives agreement – the 2008 Aynak copper... read more
For Immediate Release
Bloomberg and Reuters news agencies have reported that the International Monetary Fund has halted its loan programme with the Democratic Republic of Congo because of concerns over transparency in... read more
28.11.2012 | Inside Job - How crooks set up the largest bank in Afghanistan & then robbed it for almost $1 billion
Global Witness available for comment
The first official analysis of the “Kabul Bank Crisis” of 2010 reveals an urgent need for reform in the international banking system, said Global Witness today. The “Report of the... read more
01.06.2013 | Anonymous companies: A Global Witness briefing
Money launderers, corrupt politicians, terrorists, arms traffickers, drug smugglers, and tax evaders all rely on two things to move their dirty money: company structures that allow them to hide their identity, and banks... read more
There have been two cost/benefit analyses carried out looking at the costs of a beneficial ownership registry: one done by the UK in 2002 and one done by the European Commission in 2007. Both concluded that public... read more
Shareholders of London-listed Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation will meet on Friday 28 December to vote on a $550 million deal aimed at buying out its main copper-and-cobalt mining partner in the Democratic... read more
Global Witness welcomes the public response of the Ministry of Mines to our Copper Bottomed? report on Afghanistan’s biggest private investment and the country’s first major extractives agreement – the 2008 Aynak copper... read more
Click here to read the associated press release.
简体中文
برای دانلود متن کامل گزارش، اینجا را کلیک کنید
په پښــــــــتو ژبه د راپور لنډیز د لوستلو لپاره دغه ځای کلیک کړی
As Afghanistan looks to its future beyond transition... read more
20.06.2012 | Financing a parallel government?
Conflict Minerals | Zimbabwe | Conflict Diamonds | Business and Human Rights | Conflict | Corruption
Read the press release to accompany this report
Read the ensuing debate in the UK Parliament
This report reveals how Zimbabwe’s feared secret police, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), appears to have received... read more
17.06.2012 | Grave Secrecy
简体中文
Read the Press Release
Grave Secrecy was published in June 2012. It reveals evidence that numerous UK companies have been involved in a major money laundering scandal involving a Kyrgyzstan bank, and shows how... read more
12.06.2012 | Global Witness's memo to ENRC's shareholders
ENRC must address corruption concerns in DRC and publish findings.
Click the link below to download the full memo. read more
09.05.2012 | Global Witness's memo to Glencore's shareholders
Secrecy surrounding Glencore’s business deals in DRC risks exposing shareholders to corrupt practices.
Click the link below to read the memo. read more
05.05.2012 | Glencore has questions to answer: A Global Witness investigation into potentially corrupt deals in Congo
On this page you will find details of the Global Witness investigation into Glencore, including the briefing we sent to Glencore's shareholders and questions we put to Glencore and Dan Gertler in writing, along with the... read more
25.04.2012 | Getting to Gold: How Afghanistan’s first mining contracts can support transparency and accountability in the sector
Read the press release: Future of Afghan mining sector threatened by weak contracts, here
برای دانلود متن کامل گزارش، اینجا را کلیک کنید.
په پښــــــــتو ژبه د راپور لنډیز د لوستلو لپاره دغه ځای کلیک کړی
Global Witness’... read more
By Tom Burgis in London
US authorities have launched an investigation into Cobalt International Energy’s operations in Angola, where the Goldman Sachs-backed group is developing one of the world’s most promising oil... read more
21.02.2012 | BP makes opaque payments for Angola oil block as petro-lobby seeks weak transparency rules
Read the full BP Angola briefing
Read BP's Letter to Gavin Hayman, Campaigns Director at Global Witness
As oil industry lobbyists attempt to water down watershed transparency legislation in the United States and the... read more
06.12.2011 | The need for resource transparency beyond the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative : Lessons Learned
Over the next three years, Afghanistan will be awarding contracts for many of its valuable mineral and petroleum reserves. It is critical to Afghanistan’s future that access to these resources is managed carefully... read more
Lire en français
In July and August 2011, news came out that state mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Gécamines and Sodimico had sold stakes in four major mining sites without making the... read more
30.05.2013 | Announcing the Financial Transparency Coalition
By Porter McConnell - Manager of the Financial Transparency Coalition.
When the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development was created in 2009, only a handful of experts were following the issue of... read more
One story that will be sure to develop in 2013 is the controversy around ENRC’s activities in Congo. For the background for this, a good place to start is the Global Witness statement of 23 December: “ENRC shareholders... read more
Rosie Sharpe, Senior campaigner, Global Witness
Investigations carried out by the Guardian, ICIJ and the BBC's Panorama programme into the ease with which anonymous shell companies can be used to move dirty money... read more
01.10.2012 | Mystery shopping exercise shows how easy it is to set up anonymous companies in the U.S. and UK
Originally posted on the Taskforce on Financial Integrity’s website here.
By Rosie Sharp
Rosie Sharp is a Senior Campaigner for Global Witness, a member of the Task Force Coordinating Committee.
You’re a criminal and... read more
Read this blog on Huffington Post.
When governments around the world are taking measures in support of fiscal austerity, foreign assistance is always a prime target for the chopping block. Bravely, some governments,... read more
This piece first ran on the Guardian website.
The rich world has been busy tightening its belt in recent weeks, with Britain, Germany and Spain all announcing the severest economic cuts in generations and... read more
20.08.2012 | Tokyo Sexwale and the DRC's Mr Grab
"A $150-million investment ties Tokyo Sexwale to a controversial Israeli businessman as he pulled off the "heist" of a prize mining asset in the DRC" - Mail & Guardian. Click here to read the article. read more
Article: Why fighting corruption in Asia involves battling apathy read more
26.10.2010 | Transparency International - Corruption Index 2010
Transparency International - Corruption Index 2010 – Authoritative annual review of global corruption from our friends at Transparency International.
http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/... read more
26.10.2010 | BBC World - War-hit countries most corrupt
War-torn states are still seen as being the most corrupt in the world, according to a new report from Transparency International.
BBC World - War-hit countries most corrupt read more
05.06.2013 | The Economist supports global transparency standard
Today The Economist came out in support of the campaign “to put a stop to hidden company ownership and to make energy and mining companies disclose more about the payments they make to win concessions.”
Global Witness... read more
One story that will be sure to develop in 2013 is the controversy around ENRC’s activities in Congo. For the background for this, a good place to start is the Global Witness statement of 23 December: “ENRC shareholders... read more
Rosie Sharpe, Senior campaigner, Global Witness
Investigations carried out by the Guardian, ICIJ and the BBC's Panorama programme into the ease with which anonymous shell companies can be used to move dirty money... read more
Rob Walker of the BBC Assignment team investigates what’s happened to billions of dollars in oil revenues paid to the government of Equatorial Guinea since it's oil boom in the 1990s.
Anthea Lawson from Global... read more
10.11.2011 | Centre for Public Integrity: China-based corporate web behind troubled Africa resource deals
For centuries, wave after wave of colonists and foreign investors have swept through Africa, looking for profits from the continent’s abundant reserves of oil and prized minerals, write Beth Morrissey, Himanshu... read more
With Colonel Muammar Gaddafi all but gone, Libya's prospects can be summed up in one word: oil, says Vivienne Walt in TIME Magazine. Far different from the revolutions in Tunisia or Egypt, or the rebellions in Yemen... read more
Human rights organisations are calling on donor governments to reassess their aid programmes to Cambodia if the country passes a law that can be used to muzzle local and foreign NGOs, writes the Guardian's Marc Tran. read more
31.08.2011 | FT - Wealth fund still conceals inner secrets
Beyond the immediate priority of securing control of the LIA assets frozen as a result of international sanctions, the challenge confronting Libya’s new leadership is how to reform an institution that, if it survives in... read more
15.07.2011 | Guardian | Act now on oil to stop future Gaddafis
The 40-nation Libya contact group is meeting with the Interim National Transitional Council to decide how best to support the rebels against Muammar Gaddafi's forces. Global Witness's Brendan O'Donnell argues on Comment... read more
The London-based anti-corruption campaign group, Global Witness, said it has evidence that Teodorin Obiang, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the tiny West African state of Equatorial Guinea, has plans to... read more
11.10.2010 | Al Jazeera – UK banks ‘aided Nigeria corruption’
High street banks in the United Kingdom could have helped fuel corruption in Nigeria by accepting millions of dollars in deposits from dubious politicians in the west African nation, an international corruption... read more
What we're reading
Global Witness in the press
05.06.2013 | The Economist supports global transparency standard
For general enquiries please contact +44 (0)207 492 5820, mail@globalwitness.org.
For urgent out of hours enquiries please contact Andrea Pattison on +44 (0)797 010 3083.