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
News and reports
Siemens cannot sit on the B-20 anti-corruption working group whilst also sitting on the board of, and financially contributing to, the US Chamber of Commerce who are seeking to undermine the US Foreign Corrupt... read more
Proposals to Amend Foreign Bribery Law Could Significantly Undermine Human Rights, Commerce, U.S. Standing in the World
WASHINGTON, DC – More than 30 civil society and business groups, including human rights and... read more
12.12.2011 | Global Witness welcomes landmark commitment to good management of Afghan mineral wealth
Afghanistan and its donors have taken an important step in making sure the country’s vast potential mineral wealth translates into development by recognising the importance of transparency and accountability in 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
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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
22.11.2011 | Global Witness spokespeople available for comment on “secret sales” scandal in DR Congo
Global Witness welcomes the recent statement by UK MP Eric Joyce raising concerns over the secretive sales of what appear to be billions-of-dollars-worth of mining assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr... 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
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
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
06.10.2011 | Afghanistan and its allies must bring transparency to mineral sector if country is to prosper
Afghanistan and its allies must take urgent steps to prevent the potential benefits of its vast mineral and petroleum deposits being lost to the corruption that has plagued the aid effort of the last decade, said Global... 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
26.09.2011 | UNESCO must stop discredited prize
UNESCO should reject a new bid to honor Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equatorial Guinea and now Africa's longest serving ruler, with a prize in his name, a group of nine human rights organizations... read more
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BBC Focus on Africa: Global Witness interviewed about this report.
International oil companies such as the US giant Chevron are beginning exploration off of Liberia’s coastline.... read more
26.09.2011 | Immediate reform needed if Liberians are to profit from potential oil finds, report shows
Click here to read this report
BBC Focus on Africa: Global Witness interviewed about this report.
Far-reaching reforms of Liberia’s oil sector are urgently needed if its population is to benefit from future oil... read more
Update: Financial Times - EU closer to US-style financial reform
The Publish What You Pay coalition strongly welcomes the announcement by the UK Government that it will push for the implementation of oil, gas and... 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
(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
It is regrettable that the High Court has denied permission for a Judicial Review of the UK government's decision not to list British companies trading in Congolese ‘conflict minerals' for targeted UN sanctions, said... read more
Today's decision by the UN Education, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) to suspend awarding the "UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences," is a welcome - but long... read more
13.10.2010 | Global Witness welcomes decisive action by Liberian President regarding carbon fraud investigation
Global Witness today warmly welcomed moves by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to put forward for further investigation and potential prosecution a number of individuals involved in an allegedly corrupt... read more
Cambodia's new anti-corruption strategy is a welcome step forward but there are some serious flaws in its design that mean it will fail to tackle corruption at the top of the political elite, warned Global Witness... 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
At tomorrow's UN summit on Sudan, President Obama and other world leaders must address the disputes over oil that threaten to trigger a civil war in Africa's biggest country, campaign group Global Witness said today. [1... 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
The British government is acting unlawfully in refusing to put forward eligible UK companies and individuals trading in Congolese ‘conflict minerals' for targeted UN sanctions, said campaign group Global Witness... read more
Global Witness strongly welcomes a ground-breaking new bill, passed by the U.S. Senate today, which will help to lift the curse of corruption and conflict from poor countries that are rich in oil and minerals by... read more
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*Supporting document: President Nazarbayev's hotel bill from his official visit to the UK in 2006. This was sent to Kazakhmys plc (see Risky Business p.30). ... read more
22.03.2007 | Opportunity for the new Congolese government to fundamentally reform the natural resource sector
Global Witness today urged President Joseph Kabila and the new Congolese government to seize the momentum of the post-election period to implement fundamental reforms in the mining and... read more
26.01.2007 | Parliamentary Inquiry into Austrian Banks RZB and the RUE affair: The unanswered questions
It's a Gas
This is the story of a trade that brings natural gas from the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan through Russia and Ukraine to the European Union (EU). Far from being open to scrutiny by the citizens of... read more
Downloads
The Riddle of the Sphynx.doc read more
13.12.2005 | Republic of Congo Transparency Scorecard
20.09.2005 | Extracting Transparency
The need for an International Financial Reporting Standard for the Extractive Industries read more
25.07.2005 | Paying for Protection
Global Witness has long been concerned by the lack of transparency in payments by oil and mining companies to many governments around the world, because lack of transparency can often hide corruption and other... read more
08.02.2005 | Making it add up
Is the EITI Adding Up? Since its inception in 2003, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has recorded some important achievements. There is now extensive international awareness that transparency of... read more
25.03.2004 | Time for Transparency
Angola | Central Asia | Equatorial Guinea | Former Soviet Union | Kazakhstan | Oil Gas and Mining | Corruption
Downloads
C’est l’heure de la transparence Hora de Transparência Tiempo para la transparencia Time for Transparency (4/04) Time for Transparency (text format) Vremya prozrachnosti
Download the full report above in... read more
Bank, Fund must lead on transparency in oil, gas and mining Revenues from oil, mining and gas are vital to about 60 developing or transitional countries, where more than two-thirds of the world’s poorest people are... read more
Global Witness is one of the founder members of the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) campaign of over 120 NGOs that are calling for governments, especially those in the G8, to take leadership and promote transparency over... read more
01.03.2002 | All the Presidents Men
All the Presidents Men is the product of two years of investigations, and provides an update on the campaign for full transparency in the oil and banking sector. It continues an exposé, which started with December 1999'... read more
01.12.1999 | A Crude Awakening
Angola is sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest oil producer after Nigeria, with recent discoveries suggesting it could soon become the largest; this at a time when the 1999 UN Human Development Index (HDI) places Angola... 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
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05.06.2013 | The Economist supports global transparency standard
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