Global Financial Integrity

Event Recap: How Illicit Financial Flows are Europe’s Common Enemy

On Wednesday, representatives from the Senate, European Embassies of Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and anti-corruption NGOs, including GFI’s Tom Cardamone, gathered in the U.S. Senate’s Kennedy Caucus Room to discuss the growing dangers of illicit financial flows in Europe as major contributors to the European financial crisis.

U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) spoke about his experience with Russia’s systematic aggression in the Balkan areas, and advised they take a stronger stance against Russian encroachment. Dependence on American financial and military hegemony in the region is not a sustainable security solution, he added. Sessions, who also served as Attorney General of Alabama, urged that Central and Eastern Europe push for anti-corruption and transparency laws.

I am convinced that prosperous and open societies make the world better. The values of financial integrity are exactly what we need.

All agreed that financial integrity is the linchpin of stability and security. Hon. Becky Norton Dunlop, Vice President of the Heritage Foundation, said:

Ensuring transparency is key to dealing with corruption.

This is not just a Republican issue. This is not just a Democratic issue; this is an issue for all Americans.

The crisis in Crimea was preventable, argued Natasha Srdoc, Chairman of the Adriatic Institute for Public Policy. Regional stability is greatly undermined by Western European banks promoting fraudulent transactions in the Balkans. Had Ukraine formally broken its ties to Russia and joined the EU, it could have deterred Russia from annexing Crimea. Yet joining the EU may also have exposed the corruption schemes of Ukrainian elites, including that of former President Viktor Yanukovych and former PM Pavlo Lazarenko, whose own anonymous shell company was based in Wyoming.

Global Safeguards, Transparency, Key to Stemming Systemic Illicit Financial Flows

Liechtenstein Scandal Points to Need for Improved Global Safeguards to Stem Illicit Financial Flows, Says Global Financial Integrity

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) urges the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to implement new safeguards that will greatly improve transparency and cooperation in the global financial system.  New policies to further restrict terrorist groups from transferring and hiding funds, to create a level playing field for all taxpayers and to curtail the flow of all forms of illicit capital are critical to the future integrity of the financial system.

Global Financial Integrity Lauds Tax Evasion Investigation; Urges Greater International Cooperation and Transparency

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity applauds German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her administration for leading a historic push for greater cooperation and transparency in international tax matters.

Global Financial Integrity Lauds German Tax Evasion Investigation; Urges Greater International Cooperation and Transparency

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity applauds efforts by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her administration to push for greater cooperation and transparency in international tax matters.