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the role of financial institutions
Behind every one of the corrupt natural resource deals that Global Witness investigates, there is a route for the money. It is not just the corrupt officials and the companies prepared to pay bribes or shroud their deals in secrecy who allow corruption to take place. The other - frequently invisible - players are the banks, offshore shell companies, accountants and lawyers who can make the stolen money disappear, or provide the funding for predatory deals. Financial institutions can play a key role in funding, fuelling and facilitating conflict and in abetting grand corruption in natural resource-rich countries. Until their role is brought to light, and their capacity to handle dirty money is impeded, corruption - and the poverty and conflict that it fuels - will continue.
Global Witness investigates the role of financial institutions in supporting corruption and conflict, and uses this information to exert pressure on policy-makers, law-enforcers and the financial industry itself to make the global financial architecture more transparent, just and accountable.