News and reports

(Bangkok)– Cambodia’s draft law regulating associations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should be abandoned because it will undermine rather than promote civil society in the country, said Human Rights Watch,... read more
Last minute revisions to the guidance for the UK’s new Bribery Act risk fundamentally undermining its ability to stop corruption, warned anti-corruption campaigners today. These revisions follow delays in implementation... read more
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
Global Witness welcomes and supports the UN's decision to freeze the assets of the Libyan regime including those of Libya's National Oil Company (NOC). Freezing NOC's assets will help prevent... read more
Pour consulter la version en français, veuillez cliquer ici. 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... 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
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
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
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
Ahead of the G20 Leader’s Summit in Seoul on 11–12 November, Global Witness and partner organisations have written to UK Prime Minister David Cameron urge him to push for measures that will curb illicit financial flows... read more
Article: Why fighting corruption in Asia involves battling apathy read more
Uganda may be on the verge of an oil boom which, if managed properly, could lift a generation out of poverty. However, a history of high-level corruption scandals and a range of early warning signs in the oil... 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
Global Witness, the transparency watchdog, 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... read more
Read Financial Times leader from 15 April, 'Oily Transparency', on the EITI Board Meeting The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a pioneering initiative to bring more openness to the world's oil... read more
A senate subcommittee hearing this week will expose how foreign politicians have used the services of American lawyers, bankers, lobbyists and other professionals, to bring millions of suspect dollars into the country... read more
Changes to Liberia's forestry law proposed by the Liberian Timber Association (1) would dramatically reduce revenue for the state and are not in the best interests of the country. Global Witness has received a list of... read more
A controversy over allegations of corruption in the oil industry, which broke last week in Ghana, shows the need for much greater openness in the way in which companies gain access to the oil reserves of developing... read more
The UN body mandated to promote education, culture and science has announced a review of a controversial prize sponsored by the President of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea following lobbying by Global Witness, other non-... read more
Confidential U.S. government documents uncovered by campaign group Global Witness and reported on in today's New York Times, strongly suggest that Teodorin Obiang, son of the dictator of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea,... read more
Doha:  A handful of countries are responsible for the failure of a crucial meeting to agree an effective mechanism that would give a global anti-corruption treaty real power, said Christian Aid, Global Witness, Tax... read more
Global corruption treaty will fail without agreement on an effective review mechanism in Doha next week   Starting Monday 9th November, 141 countries that have signed the only global treaty against... read more
Algerian NGO blocked and a Gabonese activist faces difficulties   The Algerian government is blocking attendance of an Algerian NGO from an upcoming UN anti-corruption summit. This is a deeply worrying... read more
A Paris court's decision to convict 36 people in connection to illegal arms sales to Angola during its civil war in the 1990s, including arms dealers, middlemen and French politicians, is a victory for the rule of law... read more
Campaign groups Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Liberia and Global Witness today welcomed the Liberian Auditor General's audit of the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy and called on the Government to act on its disturbing... read more
The UNCAC Coalition is very concerned about reports that the Russian Federation has taken steps to block attendance of a Georgian NGO at an upcoming UN meeting on corruption. The same Georgian group, the... read more
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should not go ahead with plans for a multi-million dollar loan to Angola, whose oil-rich government is highly corrupt, without stringent conditions that require the opening up of... read more
Summit communiqué calls for stronger anti-money laundering standards to help curb illicit flows of looted state funds The G20 has urged an international watchdog on anti-money laundering laws to prioritise the fight... read more
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
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
ENRC must address corruption concerns in DRC and publish findings. Click the link below to download the full memo. read more
Secrecy surrounding Glencore’s business deals in DRC risks exposing shareholders to corrupt practices. Click the link below to read the memo. read more
07.05.2012 | China programme
简体中文 China is the most important emerging global power and major operator in natural resource extraction around the world. The country’s supply of natural resources is seen as a key element in the drive for sustaining... read more
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
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
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
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
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
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
"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
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
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
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
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
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
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
 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