South Sudan hopes to sell several unexplored oil blocks for $1 billion in coming months, a finance official said, giving a potential lifeline for the African country's hobbled economy. Reuters.
To read the Global... read more
News and reports
12.02.2013 | EU warned on blood diamond love triangle
For immediate release
Global Witness today called on EU foreign ministers to strengthen measures which restrict sales of diamonds from Zimbabwe’s controversial Marange region to Europe. The warning comes as Belgium... read more
Global Witness’ investigations indicate that ZMDC, joint venture company Anjin, and businessman Sam Pa are involved in off-budget financing of military, police and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). We believe... read more
Global Witness welcomes the Dutch government’s decision to reject the inclusion of a dangerous loophole in a new European transparency law.
The law will force oil, mining and logging companies to publish the payments... read more
Washington, 11th February 2013: The World Bank Board of Directors has blocked a call by independent evaluators to review the outcomes of the Bank’s support for industrial-scale logging in tropical rainforests. The... read more
08.02.2013 | Norway’s national oil company Statoil withholds support from US anti-transparency lawsuit
Norwegian state-owned oil company Statoil has formally distanced itself from a U.S. oil industry lawsuit that seeks to scrap a landmark transparency and anti-corruption law established in the United States.
The... read more
Cameroon | Democratic Republic of Congo | Ecuador | Ghana | Guatemala | Liberia | Peru | Forest Transparency
Public access to information remains a major obstacle to saving rainforests
Commitments to improve public access to information over how forests are managed in developing countries are not being met, said Global... read more
07.02.2013 | Nederlandse regering kan transparantiewetgeving afzwakken terwijl schandaal rond betaling van Shell toeneemt
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Het schandaal rond een Nigeriaanse oliedeal, waarbij Shell en het Italiaanse bedrijf Eni betrokken zijn, en waarbij een bedrag van 1,1 miljard US dollar werd... read more
Klik hier om te lezen in het nederlands.
For immediate release
As the scandal grows around a Nigerian oil deal involving Shell and Italian firm Eni who made a US$1.1 billion payment that ended up in the accounts of a... 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
The European Commission’s new draft legislation for how to crack down on financial crime, published today, misses an opportunity to make it much harder for tax evaders, mobsters, arms dealers and corrupt politicians to... read more
01.02.2013 | World Bank foresters ignore independent evaluation and pledge to carry on logging the world’s rainforests
Cambodia | Cameroon | Democratic Republic of Congo | Indonesia | Liberia | Industrial Forest Use | Forests
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Global Witness available for comment
An independent evaluation leaked earlier this week found that the World Bank’s support for the logging of tropical rainforests is failing in its key aims of... read more
简体中文
New research reveals capability and widespread support to strengthen transparency
The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) has the potential to play a greater role in improving extractive company transparency and... read more
15.01.2013 | Transparency Matters: Disclosure of payments to governments by Chinese extractive companies
简体中文
Click here to read the press release.
China’s supply of natural resources is a key element in the drive to sustain economic growth and long-term energy security. However, many resource-rich countries that China... read more
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s 4 January Executive Order expanding a moratorium on logging under Private Use Permits is a welcome move towards restoring the rule of law in Liberia’s forest sector. The Order also... read more
Global Witness today expressed grave concern at the worsening humanitarian situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo caused by fighting between M23 rebels and the Congolese army (FARDC).
“The M23 and FARDC... read more
20.11.2012 | Lifting the lid on Afghanistan’s biggest mining deal
To read the full report, click here.
简体中文
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په پښــــــــتو ژبه د راپور لنډیز د لوستلو لپاره دغه ځای کلیک کړی
Afghanistan’s biggest mining deal has major implications for... read more
په پښــــــــتو ژبه د راپور لنډیز د لوستلو لپاره دغه ځای کلیک کړی
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د نړيوال شاهد يا (Global Witness) په وینا، د افغانستان د تر ټولو لوی کان استخراج کولای... read more
19.11.2012 | افتتاح بزرگترین قرارداد استخراج معادن در افغانستان
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په پښــــــــتو ژبه د راپور لنډیز د لوستلو لپاره دغه ځای کلیک کړی
چیزی را که امروز نهاد گلوبل ویتنس بیان می نماید اینست که، بزرگترین قرارداد استخراج معدن افغانستان می... read more
19.11.2012 | Maxim Bakiyev’s extradition case raises concerns over his activities in the United Kingdom
Русская версия здесь
Updated 7 December 2012
Maxim Bakiyev appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London today in relation to extradition proceedings filed by the United States regarding an ongoing insider... read more
On 22 August 2012 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published the final rule for Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
The provision aims to prevent the trade in tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold from fueling... read more
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Global Witness’ report entitled ‘The art of logging industrially in Congo’, which outlines the abuse of artisanal logging permits in DRC, has been welcomed by the Congolese Environment Minister... read more
12.11.2012 | Shell and ENI's billion dollar payment for Nigerian oil project could fall foul of anti-corruption laws
New information suggests that the US$1.1 billion paid by Shell and the Italian energy company ENI for a Nigerian oil block could fall foul of anti-corruption legislation and highlights the urgent need for strong... read more
09.11.2012 | Beny Steinmetz Group Resources must publicly address questions over Guinea mining concession
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The Financial Times has published serious corruption allegations relating to the confiscation of half of one of the world’s biggest iron ore concessions and its granting to a... read more
Today, HSBC added $800 million to the money it has set aside to cover US fines for money laundering, bringing the total amount that the bank has set aside for this issue to $1.5 billion. If the fine was of... read more
Cambodia | Laos | Land Deals
Read about this story in the Daily Telegraph
European and Asian leaders attending the ninth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 9) in Vientiane, Laos next week will stay in luxury villas built on land taken from local... read more
Read the report
Read this report covered in The Economist
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HSBC has bankrolled logging companies causing widespread environmental destruction and human rights abuses in Sarawak, Malaysia, violating its... read more
Ottawa: In a decision that represents the end of any judicial relief in Canada for victims of the Kilwa massacre, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the application for leave to appeal brought in the case against... read more
30.10.2012 | EITI makes partial progress despite Big Oil resistance to contract and project level disclosure
The international board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) made partial progress to strengthen the initiative during its meeting in Lusaka, Zambia on October 25-26th. While the EITI Board... read more
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Industrial logging companies and officials are systematically abusing community logging permits in order to bypass the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) freeze on new logging concessions,... read more
In early April 2011, following some initial contacts between Honduras and the European Union (EU) in mid-2010, a series of meetings and workshops were held in Honduras with the objective to explore the potential... read more
Read press releaseRead Pandering to the Loggers
WWF’s flagship scheme to promote sustainable timber – the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) – is allowing companies to reap the benefits of association with WWF and... read more
01.07.2011 | Beyond the Pledge: International Engagement After Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement
With only days before South Sudan is due to secede on 9 July, Sudan is the closest to war that it has been since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between North and South Sudan in January 2005, said... read more
24.06.2011 | Libya controversy shows why energy companies must stop lobbying against anti-corruption laws
Growing concerns over oil companies’ dealings with Colonel Gaddafi underline why industry lobbyists must not be allowed to water down U.S. laws that aim to promote transparency and curb corruption in oil-rich... read more
23.05.2011 | Affirming Accountability: Transparency and Independent Verification in South Sudan’s New Petroleum Law
The purpose of this paper is to provide recommendations drawn from our expertise and experience in Sudan and elsewhere in order to assist in the development of a robust Petroleum Law in South Sudan. We also draw from a... read more
18.05.2011 | The EITI in South Sudan: Basics and Benefits
A memo by Global Witness explaining the basics and benefits of the potential for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in South Sudan. read more
Read press release
Shifts in the control of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) mines have created opportunities to begin breaking the links between the mineral trade and the conflict that has plagued civilians... read more
12.05.2011 | Global Witness briefing to the British All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes
Global Witness submitted a briefing to the British APPG on the Great Lakes in advance of a visit to the region in May 2011 highlighting concerns over the Democratic Republic of Congo's natural resource sector. read more
15.03.2011 | Joint letter to DfID outlining need for donors to address transparency in Ugandan oil sector
Uganda is on the verge of a petroleum windfall. According to the World Bank, revenue from this industry has the potential to double government revenue within six to 10 years and to constitute an estimated 10-25 percent... read more
The government’s draft proposals for libel reform are due to be published on Tuesday 15th March. It is vital that these changes work to protect and strengthen reporting in the public interest.An increasingly broad range... read more
The huge potential of a multibillion-dollar deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and China risks being undermined because the agreement is opaque and key terms are ill-defined says Global Witness in China and... read more
28.02.2011 | Submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on proposed guidelines for conflict minerals law
The landmark US Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 includes provisions to stem the flow of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It requires companies whose products contain tin, tantalum tungsten and... 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
In partnership with the Bank Information Center (bic), Greenpeace International, Rainforest Foundation Norway and Rainforest Foundation UK, Global Witness wrote to the World Bank expressing alarm at the lifting of a ban... read more
17.02.2011 | Submission to the Ministry of Justice regarding access to justice for victims of UK corporate abuse
As part of a coalition, Global Witness made a submission to the Ministry of Justice on its proposals for reform of civil litigation funding and costs in England and Wales. In this submission we highlight our concerns... read more
Global Witness is embarking on an ambitious project aimed at overhauling and vastly improving the way in which we use digital tools (including social media and other multi-media materials) to gain impact across our... 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
Diarmid O'Sullivan, Open Society Foundation research fellow and ex-Global Witness campaigner has released a report today on how transparency helps identify problems in the governance of natural resources, as well... 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
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
Shell companies
Launderers Anonymous
A study highlights how easy it is to set up untraceable companies
Sep 22nd 2012 | NEW YORK | from The Economist
SHELL companies—which exist on paper only, with no real... 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
13.09.2012 | Business Insider: The Man Who Infiltrated Pablo Escobar's Cartel Explains What's Wrong With The Global Banking System
By Michael Kelley | Business Insider – Fri, Sep 7, 2012 12:56 PM EDT
Robert Mazur, the U.S. Customs special agent who led one of the most successful undercover operations in U.S. law enforcement... read more
By Tom Picken - read this blog on Reuters Trustlaw
International efforts to protect forests and the people that live in them have failed so badly that just 20 per cent of forest remains untouched by commercial activity... read more
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the European Parliament's Legal Affairs committee, Global Witness staged a parade of “dictators” in protest at plans to water down upcoming European laws to make oil, mining and timber... read more
Huffington Post blog written by Global Witness' Sudan and South Sudan Analyst, Dana Wilkins, available here. 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
Global Witness's Anthea Lawson and the Financial Task Force's Christine Clough discuss ways to address the illicit financial flows that threaten Uganda's extractive sector and wider economy.
Read here. read more
Diarmid O'Sullivan, Open Society Foundation research fellow and ex-Global Witness campaigner has released a report today on how transparency helps identify problems in the governance of natural resources, as well... read more
05.11.2012 | Daily Telegraph - 'Land grab' as families are uprooted to make way for luxury resort that will host EU ministers
Cambodia | Laos | Land Deals
At least 500 people have been uprooted from their homes to make way for luxury villas where European Union foreign ministers, including William Hague, will stay during a summit in Laos on Monday, writes David Blair in... read more
A report by Peru Support Group.
Abstract: High gold prices, persistent poverty and a shortage of employment opportunities in Peru have all contributed to an increase in artisanal and small-scale gold mining activity in... read more
Shell companies
Launderers Anonymous
A study highlights how easy it is to set up untraceable companies
Sep 22nd 2012 | NEW YORK | from The Economist
SHELL companies—which exist on paper only, with no real... 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
18.11.2011 | Reuters Africa: South Sudan assertive on oil sales
South Sudan will market its crude through its oil ministry, an oil official said on Thursday casting further doubt on the role trading major Glencore's venture will have in selling the nation's oil. Alexander Dziadosz... read more
Some donors do well, all donors can do better, writes Publish What You Fund. read more
Britain is being urged to help close down a legal loophole that lets financiers known as "vulture funds" use courts in Jersey to claim hundreds of millions of pounds from the world's poorest countries, write Greg Palast... read more
15.11.2011 | BBC: Call for greater aid transparency
A UK-based lobby group is calling for more transparency in the spending of global development aid, estimated to be worth about $150bn (£93bn), writes BBC's Mark Doyle. 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
South Sudan's oil minister said on Saturday that an oil cargo detained by northern officials in Port Sudan in a row over duty payments had now sailed, but that negotiations over transit fees were stalled - read... read more
A major international anti-corruption provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation remains stalled at the Securities and Exchange Commission, a year after the bill was passed by Congress and three months... read more
Two days before Sudan splits in two, negotiating teams have failed to agree how to divide the oil critical to the economies of north and south, as aid agencies warn the country is closest to war since a 2005 peace deal... read more
British firms have acquired more land in Africa for controversial biofuel plantations than companies from any other country, write Damian Carrington and Stefano Valentino. 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
South Sudan hopes to sell several unexplored oil blocks for $1 billion in coming months, a finance official said, giving a potential lifeline for the African country's hobbled economy. Reuters.
To read the Global... 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
From the Daily Mail
ENRC has resolved not to buy mineral rights via controversial middlemen who campaign groups say pose an appearance or risk of corruption, the Mail understands.
Chairman Mehmet Dalman has taken an... read more
08.08.2012 | World Politics Review: Despite Oil Deal, Obstacles to Sudan-South Sudan Reconciliation Remain
With peril looming on both countries’ economic horizons, Sudan and South Sudan brokered a milestone oil-transit agreement over the weekend to the effusive praise of the international community. The deal represents a... read more
South Sudan says it will allow full access to information involving deals with international financial institutions, following a report by Global Witness on Wednesday, which it recommends that the new nation “exercise... read more
18.05.2012 | Caixin: Big Oil on Edge as U.S. Requires Disclosure
An intense lobbying campaign is under way as U.S. authorities prepare to implement what are supposed to be investor-friendly laws designed to clarify the global operations of listed oil companies. Zhang Tao and Wang... read more
Huffington Post blog written by Global Witness' Sudan and South Sudan Analyst, Dana Wilkins, available here. 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
Diamonds worth hundreds of millions of dollars are due to be put on sale on Friday by a joint Chinese-Zimbabwean company with strong military ties. The auction follows last month's decision by the industry watchdog... read more
China, the largest buyer of Sudanese crude oil, is pressing Sudan and the newly independent South Sudan to end a row that has led to the blockade of about 200,000 barrels a day of crude oil and contributed to... read more
Sudan said on Monday it had halted landlocked South Sudan's oil exports until the two agree on a transit fee, stepping up a row between the former civil war foes over how to untangle their once-integrated oil industries... read more
Sudan said on Monday it had halted landlocked South Sudan's oil exports until the two agree on a transit fee, stepping up a row between the former civil war foes over how to untangle their once-integrated oil industries... read more
What we're reading
Global Witness in the press
05.06.2013 | The Economist supports global transparency standard
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