(Click here for Spanish) Despite the alarming political, economic and social impact of public asset theft, the world of asset recovery remains a mystery to the general public. As 20 to 40 billion dollars in state assets are stolen by public officials or powerful leaders in developing countries throughout the world, it’s time we learn Read more about What is asset recovery and why you should care[…]
Over the past few years, Germany has been praised for its efforts in leading on transparency and anti-corruption in the global agenda and for supporting countries in transition to recover stolen assets. But at the same time, the German finance ministry estimates that €100 billon is laundered through Germany each year. What’s the truth? In Read more about Is Germany a tax haven? Part I[…]
When we talk about the theft of public assets and their return, we often get into a discussion of ‘destination countries’, ‘tax havens’ and ‘victim countries.’ These terms roughly correspond in most of our minds to: Destination countries: Rich, developed countries with steadily increasing property markets and stable banks Tax Havens: Island nations with large Read more about Beyond destinations, havens and victims[…]
American companies like Google and Nike hide more than $2.1 trillion in offshore tax havens. But the sad truth is that the United States itself plays host to many of the same practices detailed in the leak of the Panama Papers. Executives and firms take advantage of an increasingly deregulated market as the U.S. consistently avoids international efforts at disclosure reform. […]
Shortly after UK PM David Cameron’s comment that Nigeria was ‘fantastically corrupt’, President Muhammadu Buhari publically agreed with him but also asked for the UK’s help to return the money stolen in Nigeria and hidden in the UK. This highlights very clearly the ongoing problem not only in relation to Nigeria, but to many other Read more about Show us the money: Nigeria[…]