Global Witness' response to an International Development Select Committee Inquiry on Tax and Development. Our response highlights the need for disclosure of revenue payments in the extractive sector and for more... read more
News and reports
29.02.2012 | Global Witness Submission to International Development Select Committee Inquiry on Tax and Development
Washington DC/ London, February 16, 2012: The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development (TF) welcomes moves to tackle tax dodging announced by the global body charged with fighting financial crime (... 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
Civil society submission to G20 anti-corruption working group, February 2012 read more
Global Witness has long campaigned for companies to come clean about who actually owns them. In most countries in the world individuals can legally disguise their identities and their assets behind anonymous shell... read more
This submission focuses on the role of the financial sector of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in facilitating a possible loss in value of billions of dollars from state mining assets in the Democratic Republic of... read more
New research published by the Tax Justice Network shows that tax evasion costs 145 countries, representing over 98% of world GDP, more than US$3.1 trillion annually.
In the UK for instance, a staggering £69.9 billion a... read more
This op-ed appeared in the International Herald Tribune
The Stolen Money Trail
By Anthea Lawson
Earlier this month, Swiss bank regulators found that four Swiss banks had not done enough to identify dictators’ assets... read more
14.11.2011 | Moves to stop corrupt politicians and criminals from hiding behind anonymous U.S. shell companies welcomed
Global Witness applauds Representatives Maloney (D-NY), Frank (D-MA) and Lynch (D-MA) for introducing legislation that would tackle corporate secrecy. If passed into law, the Incorporation Transparency and Law... read more
Clariden Leu AG, with roots that make it Switzerland's oldest private bank, has begun telling certain U.S. customers suspected of offshore tax evasion that it will disclose their names to the U.S. Internal Revenue... read more
Three years after the near collapse of the international banking system and as it faces new instability, the governments of the Group of 20 leading economic powers (G20) must focus on the underlying, systemic causes of... read more
Marrakesh - Today 140 governments acknowledged systemic failures in the controls that should stop banks taking dictators’ money, in a move welcomed by anti-corruption campaigners Global Witness and Sherpa. The... read more
Today the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed an asset forfeiture claim against a $30m Malibu house, a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet and other assets owned by the son of the President of Equatorial Guinea, claiming... read more
05.10.2011 | UNESCO: Obiang prize suspended again
The decision by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s executive board on October 4, 2011, to defer any action on a highly controversial life sciences prize named after and funded by... read more
20.09.2011 | Global Witness welcomes landmark U.S. effort to curb corruption and promote transparency
The United States’ dual pledge to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and to support legislation that would stop U.S. states from allowing secretive front companies to be set up represents... read more
Download - Libyan Investment Authority, as of September 2010
Download - Libyan Investment Authority, as of June 2010
Between June and September 2010 the Libyan state oil fund deposited over $1bn with HSBC,... read more
An account at Barclays bank was used by Teodorin Obiang, the son of the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, to buy €18m (£16m at current rates) of art from the estate of the late Yves Saint Laurent.
Teodorin earns a... read more
Global Witness welcomes today’s recognition by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that the majority of Britain’s banks are failing to do enough to identify corrupt money from abroad and that it is ‘likely that some... read more
Update: Global Witness publishes the Libyan Investment Authority financial position as of September 2010
Read BBC Business Editor Robert Peston's analysis of this story
Listen to Global Witness discuss this... read more
20.03.2011 | Governments should name banks that took corrupt money from Gaddafi, Mubarak and Ben Ali
Read BBC Business Editor Robert Peston's blog on this call to governments.
The governments that have frozen funds controlled by Gaddafi, Mubarak, Ben Ali and their cronies should name the banks holding their assets,... read more
For over a decade, Global Witness has targeted policy-makers, international organisations, regulators and the banks themselves in an effort to make it harder for corrupt politicians to stash loot in foreign bank... read more
Global Witness and Transparency International (TI), together with 76 other organisations from around the world, have signed a letter to the Group of 20 leading economies calling for swift implementation of the G20’s... read more
Taxpayer-funded Lloyds bank may have "stashed" $9 billion for President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, according to Wikileaks cables published in the Guardian today. Lloyds must now confirm if this is true or not and if it is... read more
12.11.2010 | Task Force: G20 Action on Development and Corruption Welcome, But More Transparency Needed
Seoul, South Korea – New plans from the G20 to tackle corruption and promote development are welcome commitments, said the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development (Task Force) following... read more
(Washington, DC) - The United States should press for greater transparency and accountability in the global financial system at the G20 Summit meeting in Seoul, a coalition of civil society organizations said today. The... read more
11.10.2010 | UNESCO: Africans Urge Cancellation of Obiang Prize
See latest Global Witness release on this issue
Citizens of Equatorial Guinea and prominent African figures including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Graça Machel, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, and author... read more
05.10.2010 | UNESCO: Cancel Dictator Prize
UNESCO should use this month's executive board meeting to cancel its prize named after and funded by Teodoro Obiang, the president of Equatorial Guinea, said Global Witness and partner groups today.
"President Obiang's... read more
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization should cancel the Obiang Prize at its next session in October 2010, Global Witness and 95 partner groups said in a letter sent to UNESCO Executive... read more
Global Witness welcomes the decisive action taken by the UK financial regulator, the FSA, which has fined the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) £5.6 million for failing to check whether its customers were on the UK terrorist... read more
London, June 15, 2010 - UNESCO's decision today to delay awarding a controversial prize named after and funded by the dictator of Equatorial Guinea is a positive initial step, civil society groups said. The United... read more
10.05.2013 | 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
02.11.2012 | In the future, there will be no forests left
Click here to read the press release
HSBC has bankrolled logging companies causing widespread environmental destruction and human rights abuses in Sarawak, Malaysia, violating its sustainability policies and earning... 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
This paper puts forward some ideas for how the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the body that sets the global standards designed to curb financial crime, can ensure that these standards are actually implemented... read more
Organisations representing over 1000 civil society groups have written to the EU calling on it to establish a new standard for company ownership transparency. NGO coalitions including Publish What You Pay, the UN... read more
29.02.2012 | Global Witness Submission to International Development Select Committee Inquiry on Tax and Development
Global Witness' response to an International Development Select Committee Inquiry on Tax and Development. Our response highlights the need for disclosure of revenue payments in the extractive sector and for more... read more
Civil society submission to G20 anti-corruption working group, February 2012 read more
This submission focuses on the role of the financial sector of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in facilitating a possible loss in value of billions of dollars from state mining assets in the Democratic Republic of... read more
New research published by the Tax Justice Network shows that tax evasion costs 145 countries, representing over 98% of world GDP, more than US$3.1 trillion annually.
In the UK for instance, a staggering £69.9 billion a... read more
19.09.2011 | Submission to the Financial Action Task Force in response to standards review: second round
This submission is in response to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) consultation, The Review of Standards – Preparation for the 4th Round of Mutual Evaluations: Second public consultation. It follows on from the... read more
30.08.2011 | Joint NGO submission to the UK government's consultation on the anti-money laundering regulations
Global Witness and a number of other civil society organisations are deeply concerned about the UK government's proposal to water down the anti-money laundering regulations. This submission lays out in detail our... read more
Global Witness, along with over 400 other civil society groups, have written to the G20's anti-corruption working group outlining their priorities for the upcoming Cannes G20 summit. This follows on from a previous... read more
For over a decade, Global Witness has targeted policy-makers, international organisations, regulators and the banks themselves in an effort to make it harder for corrupt politicians to stash loot in foreign bank... read more
07.02.2011 | Press advisory: Global Witness spokespeople available for comment on banking of politicians’ funds
Following recent events in Egypt, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Haiti, Global Witness specialists are available for comment and analysis on how senior politicians access the financial system.
The unrest in Tunisia,... read more
05.02.2013 | We could end poverty if … David Cameron is right?
Britain‘s G8 presidency a chance to reframe the poverty debate
It’s always encouraging to see our leaders pushing the right line for a change. Outlining his agenda for the G8 at the World Economic Forum in Davos... 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
19.09.2012 | Blog from Global Witness' Stefanie Ostfeld: Dictators’ Riches Are Stolen at Home, But Banked in the West
This post first appeared on Freedom House's Freedom at Issue blog.
Corrupt dictators who take bribes and loot their treasuries are rightly condemned by governments and other observers in developed... read more
This article was published in the Financial Times on 24th February 2011.
Read press advisory on this issue.
Don't make it easier for dictators to steal
By Anthea Lawson, head of Kleptocracy campaign
The world may... 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
Clariden Leu AG, with roots that make it Switzerland's oldest private bank, has begun telling certain U.S. customers suspected of offshore tax evasion that it will disclose their names to the U.S. Internal Revenue... read more
06.09.2011 | Wall St Journal - SocGen deals eyed by Libya
Officials working with Libya's new governing authority are examining whether any payments made by Société Générale SA as part of its business relationship with the Libyan Investment Authority ended up in the hands of... read more
An international financial crime watchdog has been urged not to relax its stance on monitoring political officials in the light of the desperate scramble to freeze the assets of deposed leaders in the Middle East and... 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
Global Witness has long campaigned for companies to come clean about who actually owns them. In most countries in the world individuals can legally disguise their identities and their assets behind anonymous shell... read more
This op-ed appeared in the International Herald Tribune
The Stolen Money Trail
By Anthea Lawson
Earlier this month, Swiss bank regulators found that four Swiss banks had not done enough to identify dictators’ assets... 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
This article was published in the Financial Times on 24th February 2011.
Read press advisory on this issue.
Don't make it easier for dictators to steal
By Anthea Lawson, head of Kleptocracy campaign
The world may... read more
A U.S. diplomat called Equatorial Guinea's dictator of 31 years one of "the good guys" in leaked diplomatic cables urging Washington to engage with its third largest oil supplier or risk endangering energy security,... read more
Kazakhstan's septuagenerian President Nursultan Nazarbayev has brought over 50 businessmen on a three day visit to the EU that is to see the European Investment Bank (EIB) open a €1.5 billion credit line to help fund... read more
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