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
News and reports
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
Press release
Пресс-релиз на русском
Kazakhmys plc, a FTSE 100 company which mines copper in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, failed to declare potentially key information about its shareholders and directors... read more
Rebels, militias and army units have hijacked the trade in mineral ores from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), while subjecting the civilian population to massacres, rape, extortion, forced labour and... read more
30.06.2010 | Liberian debt relief welcome but better financial controls needed to prevent corruption
The decision yesterday by the World Bank to grant debt relief to Liberia under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) is welcome but more needs to be done to prevent corruption in the post-conflict... read more
30.06.2010 | Post G20 Toronto Summit Analysis: Official Statement is Heavy on Promises, Short on Action
WASHINGTON, DC -- The G20 Summit in Toronto June 27th-28th was heavy on promises and lean on concrete action items, notes the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development. While the G20 expressed... read more
29.06.2010 | Congo Now! campaign marks 50 years of independence for the Democratic Republic of Congo
With the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) set to celebrate 50 years of independence on June 30th, the Congo Now! campaign is launching a series of events to celebrate the rich creativity of the Congolese people... read more
29.06.2010 | Global Witness welcomes new openness in Cambodia’s oil sector but remains concerned over lack of transparency
Global Witness today welcomed the decision of Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An to provide a list of companies operating in the oil and gas sector and some information about the management of payments made by them... read more
Today's announcement by the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, of a comprehensive reform package comes across as a cynical piece of spin by a dictator more interested in lining his own pockets than tackling... read more
27.06.2010 | Singapore’s ‘sustainability credentials’ undermined by environmentally destructive sand imports
As host of this week's World Cities Summit under the banner of "liveable and sustainable cities", Singapore must do more to address the negative impacts of its demand for sand, which is fuelling an ecologically and... read more
The US government recently announced the discovery of nearly $1 trillion worth of mineral wealth in Afghanistan. Global Witness's Diarmid O'Sullivan was interviewed by the BBC World Service about the potential of this... 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
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
13.01.2009 | Letter to Global Witness from the Special Representative to the UN Secretary General in the DRC
Publish What You Pay (PWYP), the global civil society movement for transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries, condemns the imprisonment of anti-corruption activists in Gabon and calls for their immediate... read more
Russia, Ukraine and Gas: Six Questions for Gazprom
Dear Mr Miller,
Global Witness is a non-profit organisation that works for greater openness in the world's natural resource industries. You may know our April 2006... read more
26.11.2008 | Cambodian Embassy response
"The Royal Embassy of Cambodia to the United Kingdom found the press release by Global Witness (“Cambodia's donors risk disaster with blind eye to poor governance of country's oil and mineral”,... read more
October 29, 2008: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group are falling short in fostering fundamental measures of transparency in the oil, gas, and mining industries, a report released today by the... read more
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS MUST TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
A threat to ban a prominent human rights group in Angola, Africa's top oil producer, is raising serious concerns in the wake of... read more
03.10.2008 | Angolagate trial opens - Global Witness comment
Angolagate trial - 3rd October 2008
Global Witness welcomes the start of the long awaited Angolagate trial taking place in Paris from October 6th 2008. This long running judicial investigation covers a... read more
31.07.2008 | PWYP expresses concern over harassment and intimidation of anti-corruption campaigners in Gabon
PUBLISH WHAT YOU PAY (PWYP) INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
PWYP expresses concern over harassment and intimidation of anti-corruption campaigners in Gabon
London, 31 July 2008 - In the latest incident in... read more
Media release for June 26, 2008
Today the House Financial Services Committee is deliberating legislation that would enhance U.S. energy security and curb corruption in poor countries by casting light on payments made... read more
Civil society organisations today expressed serious concerns over plans by the Swiss Development Agency (DDC) to return millions blocked in Swiss banks to Angola, including for a demining project awarded... read more
25.03.2008 | Publication of Congo mining contract review welcome; renegotiations should be fair and transparent.
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Publication of Congo mining co... should be fair read more
Congo Mining Contract Review: Fast Track or False Trail? DRC Government needs to clarify review process to restore trust (18 February 2008) – The Congolese government’s ‘fast track solution’ to its mining contract... 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
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.
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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
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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
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
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
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
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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