Global Witness - Breaking the links between natural resources, conflict and corruption
Banks and corruption
View latest releases on banks and corruption
The rich world's leaders have promised to make poverty history. One of the easiest ways of doing this is to ensure that natural resource revenues are available for development, by preventing banks facilitating the looting of them.
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.
Our report Undue Diligence: How banks do business with corrupt regimes names and shames British, European and US banks who have done business with corrupt regimes and who are thus contributing to poverty in these countries. It sets out what governments, regulators and banks need to do in order to tackle this complicity in corruption.
In May 2009 Global Witness testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on corruption and the role of Western financial institutions. Read the testimony.
In November 2009 Global Witness attended the UN Convention against Corruption in Doha, and lobbied for the introduction of an effective review mechanism which wich would give the treaty some real teeth. Global Witness and its civil society partners were profoundly disappointed by the coalition's failure to agree such a mechanism.
Our latest investigation, The Secret Life of a Shopaholic, uncovered evidence suggesting that the lavish lifestyle of Teodorin Obiang, son of the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, is financed by corruptly acquired funds. He reportedly earns $60,000 a year as a minister in his father's government, yet has bought a $35 million Malibu mansion, a Gulfstream jet and a fleet of fast cars. Our report questioned his continuing freedom to enter the U.S. and examined the role of major international banks in allowing him to move millions of dollars from Equatorial Guinea to the U.S. Produced with the help of investigative journalist Ken Silverstein, the report ran on the front page of the New York Times.
The Obiang case recently featured in a hearing at the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations as part of its review of US money laundering and corruption prevention regimes. As we pointed out in a recent letter to The Guardian, the outcome of the investigation has huge implications for the campaign to end the abuse of global financial systems by corrupt individuals and governments of resource-rich countries. We look forward to seeing what happens as a result of the investigations. We also call on European governments to follow the U.S. example and investigate their own financial sectors to ensure that they are not facilitating the looting of state funds.
Global Witness' partner organisations
The UNCAC Coalition was formed in 2006 and is composed of more than 100 civil society organisations in more than 60 countries. Its goal is to promote ratification, implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention against Corruption. More information can be found at www.uncaccoalition.org.
BankTrack is a global network of civil society organisations and individuals tracking the operations of the private financial sector (commercial banks, investors, insurance companies, pension funds) and its effect on people and the planet. Global Witness is an associate member of Banktrack. More information can be found at www.banktrack.org.
The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development is a unique global coalition of civil society organizations and more than 50 governments working together to address inequalities in the financial system that penalize billions of people. More information can be found at www.financialtaskforce.org.
Latest Publications
March 2010
New evidence confirms oil revenue transparency still eludes Sudan
Large discrepancies persist between the oil production data published by the government of Sudan and those published by the main Chinese oil company operating in the country, Global Witness said today, six months after the publication of its report which first exposed the gaps.
Environmental groups call on French shipping company Delmas to cancel shipment of precious wood from Madagascar
Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today called on French shipping company Delmas to cancel a shipment to China of hundreds of tons of rosewood from the port of Vohémar, in northeastern Madagascar. The campaign groups accuse the company of facilitating the destruction of Madagascar’s last remaining forests caused by vast illegal logging of rosewood.
Open letter to Delmas shipping company raises concerns over rosewood shipments from Madagascar
An open letter from Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) to Delmas shipping company expressing grave concerns at its involvement in the transport of timber from Madagascar which has been declared illicit by the Malagasy authorities. The groups accuse Delmas of facilitaitng the destruction Madagascar's remaining rosewood forests through illegal logging.
Link between Angolan president's son-in-law and state oil company raises questions about transparency
The son-in-law of the Angolan president has been nominated to the board of a holding company that owns a third of the Portuguese oil firm Galp Energia, which has investments in Angola. The nomination was made by the State oil company, Sonangol, which is responsible for managing Angola's oil on behalf of its citizens. This arrangement raises concerns about conflicts of interest to which Sonangol has not responded.
DR Congo: ex-rebels take over mineral trade extortion racket
Former rebels from the Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP) have established mafia-style extortion rackets covering some of the most lucrative tin and tantalum mining areas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Global Witness reported today following four weeks of research in the region.
Global Witness concerned at choice of new Ukraine energy minister
Global Witness 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 to the European Union.
Landmark oil and mining transparency initiative faces credibility test as key deadline passes
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a pioneering initiative to bring more openness to the world's oil and mining industries, faces a major credibility test after 20 out of 22 countries failed to meet a key deadline today.
Global Witness urges Cambodia’s donors to condemn sponsorship of military units by private businesses
Aid donors to Cambodia, including the US, EU, Japan, China and the World Bank, should send a strong message to the government that they will not countenance the bankrolling of Cambodia’s military by private businesses. This call follows the announcement last week by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen of the formation of 42 official partnerships between private businesses and Cambodian military units.
February 2010
A near miss? Lessons learnt from the allocation of mining licences in the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone
Between 2005 and 2007, two mining licences were issued in the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone, even though the area was a proposed national park. This new report identifies weaknesses in Sierra Leone's natural resource governance and attempts to draw lessons for the future.
Parliamentary committee report on libel, privacy and press freedom not strong enough to defend public interest reporting
A report on press standards, privacy and libel makes broadly sensible recommendations but does not go far enough to allay fears that England's laws are a barrier to public-interest campaigning.
Campaigners criticise proposals to define palm oil plantations as forests
The Ecosystems Climate Alliance today criticised the EU and Indonesia for attempting to reclassify palm oil plantations as forests, saying this would be a step backwards in efforts to halt climate change though preventing deforestation.
28 countries accused of facilitating money laundering … but key offenders missing
An international financial crime watchdog has named and shamed countries that are failing to stop dirty money entering the financial system, a move welcomed by Global Witness. However, conspicuously absent are major financial centres and secrecy jurisdictions, many of which also have serious weaknesses in their anti-money laundering regulations.
