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AfricaFocus Bulletin
"Knowledge of beneficial ownership of companies and bank accounts is
fundamental, both to ensure taxation and also to prevent and
prosecute crime and the money laundering that so often is associated
with it. ... Corporations, trusts, and foundations are creations of
the state--and as such, they have no inalienable rights. They are
created to facilitate societal welfare, and to ensure that they do
so, they need to be globally regulated--regulated in ways which
ensure full knowledge of beneficial ownership and full compliance
with all tax laws." - Joseph Stiglitz, in testimony to European
Parliament Panama Papers inquiry
Joseph Stiglitz and Mark Pieth decided to research and write their
report on the policy implications of the Panama Papers, after
resigning from the commission set up by the government of Panama on
the issue. Their protest was against the failure of Panama to agree
to publication of its own report, and that government's lack
of will to engage in a transparent investigation.
The Stiglitz-Pieth report has been hailed as a clear roadmap for
global policy action on tax havens and illicit financial flows.
Recognition of the need for such action has been growing rapidly
around the world, fueled by exposures such as the Panama Papers and
a host of other similar smaller exposés. But the authors stress that
the road ahead will be difficult because of entrenched opposition.
It will be made even more difficult by recent political developments
favoring forces hostile to financial transparency and friendly to
tax evasion and kleptocracy, most significantly the U.S.
presidential election.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the demands for curbing the drain of
wealth into secret jurisdictions will continue, and that this is an
essential front in movements for social justice and human rights.
Lives saved or lost depend on how much can be "clawed back" from
this global kleptocratic system to invest in urgent human needs,
including health and education. On this front, Africa has provided
an example worth wider global recognition and emulation, in a multitrack
mobilization to "stop the bleeding," involving international
and national government officials, civil society networks,
investigative journalists, accounting and legal professionals, and
others.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains brief excerpts from testimony by
Stiglitz to the European Parliament on his key conclusions.
The full 25-page report is available at
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/12922.pdf
However, the bulk of this AfricaFocus Bulletin consists of a guide to
priority resources on illicit financial flows and the Stop the
Bleeding Africa campaign, including short videos, articles, reports,
and more. This was compiled by Chris Root for the US-Africa Network
and is also available on the USAN website:
http://www.usafricanetwork.org
Other key resources written as part of USAN's support for the Stop
the Bleeding campaign include:
"Top 10 Questions About Illicit Financial Flows and Africa,"
prepared by Anita Plummer (http://tinyurl.com/zz4xr53) For previous AfricaFocus Bulletin's on illicit financial flows and
related issues, visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-iff.php
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Your AfricaFocus editor will be on two roundtable discussions:
and
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Wednesday, 16 November 2016
[Excerpts. Full transcript at http://tinyurl.com/zz4ytq7]
In our report, Overcoming the Shadow Economy, Mark Pieth and I
present foundational principles for all countries in setting
nationally appropriate regulations. The intention of our Report was
not to present concrete legislative proposals, but rather to show
the magnitude of the task before the international community, and to
argue that the international community needs to take a comprehensive
approach, going well beyond those embodied in standard practices
today. I will now explain these principles and a more detailed set
of recommendations can be found in the Shadow Economy report.
...
While the United States preach about the vices of the offshore
centers, within their own borders there are pockets of secrecy where
these bad practices continue. Although the United States recently
adopted a Treasury rule (FinCEN) requiring financial operators to
report the beneficial owner(s) of legal entity customers by 11 May
2018, this reporting is to government authorities only and no
personal knowledge is necessary to verify the identity of the
beneficial owner, only documentation. Additionally, the United
States has yet to implement country-by-country reporting. There is a
bill in Congress that requires this reporting through disclosures to
the Securities and Exchange Commission, but it is still strongly
opposed by business. And now with President Trump in office, the
future of that bill is highly uncertain.
Having said this, though, the major players--US and EU countries--
are key in tipping the balance toward transparency. These countries
can effectively force others to comply with their standards, simply
by threatening to cut off access to their financial system. And in
fact, many in the United States have been calling for the government
to break off all connections with jurisdictions not conforming to
the global standards (even secrecy jurisdictions within their own
territories), effectively shutting down all secrecy-havens. There is
a widely shared perspective that these havens only exist because the
United States and Europe have looked the other way--influenced by their own one percent. These major players
have yet to pull the trigger, partly due to the delay in putting
their own houses in order.
http://www.usafricanetwork.org / http://tinyurl.com/jsyg8el
[Compiled September 2016]
Tax Justice Network Africa, "Tax evasion" VIDEO 6 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PtNeR03PmQ
The Panama Papers: Victims of Offshore VIDEO 4 minutes
https://panamapapers.icij.org/video/
The Power of Tax VIDEO 3.5 minute Stop the Bleeding campaign theme song VIDEO 4 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nDPKiWSTXI
Stop the Bleeding – Africa IFF Campaign Declaration and Call to
Action Stop the Bleeding – Curbing Illicit Capital Flows VIDEO 16-minute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lenH1SaOcIA
The Panama Papers – What They Mean And Why They Are Important For
Africa Poverty Amidst Plenty: How Africans Are Robbed Of Benefits Of
Mineral Wealth Report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from
Africa REPORT Viewing #SwissLeaks through a Different Lens
http://tinyurl.com/hw8tarc
Measuring Corruption in Africa: The International Dimension Matters
http://tinyurl.com/hb2gcwd
Corporate Tax is a Feminist Matter Zambian miners paying more tax than mining company AUDIO PODCAST
5 minutes Continent of Secrets: Uncovering Africa's Offshore Empires GAME
http://tinyurl.com/jaro779
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) Panama
Papers Project Finance Uncovered A Few Examples of Illicit Financial Flows cited in AfricaFocus
Bulletins, 2013-2015
Examples compiled by AfricaFocus, including Lonmin in South Africa,Philia (oil) in Congo (Brazzaville), mining companies in Sierra Leone, Swiss oil trading companies, Equatorial Guinea, South African diamonds, Nigerian oil, Zambia and the cost of tax avoidance, trade mis-invoicing, fisheries and forests, and tax havens.
Liberia/Global: Financial Secrecy at Work
http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/iff1606.php
South Africa: Disappearing Diamond Revenue
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/dia1406.php
Africa/Global: Accounting Tricks with Coca-Cola
http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/coke1602.php
Africa: Tax Tricks, Mobile Phones, and Beer
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/td1510.php
The West African Giveaway: Use & Abuse of Corporate Tax Incentives
in ECOWAS REPORT Making Violence Visible: From #BlackLivesMatter to #StoptheBleeding
Africa One year after Addis Ababa, rich countries blocking UN from working
on tax, again Why It Really Matters and The Hypocrisy of Immediate Reciprocity
http://www.swissleaksreviewed.org/#why-it-matters
Interview with Clark Gascoigne of the FACT Coalition by Sonali
Kolhatkar VIDEO 17 minutes The Shape of Battle to Come: Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from
Africa SLIDESHOW Tax Justice Network Africa Stop the Bleeding FACT Coalition Global Alliance for Tax Justice Financial Transparency Coalition 5. Other sources covering illicit financial flows and Africa
Africa Focus: Illicit Financial Flows and Tax Justice
http://www.africafocus.org/intro-iff.php
Tax Justice Network – Africa Global Financial Integrity Special issue of Association of Concerned Africa Scholars Bulletin,
"Africa's Capital Losses: What Can Be Done?," Fall 2012(62 pages)
http://concernedafricascholars.org/bulletin/issue87/, particularly:
"Plundering a Continent" by Raymond Baker
http://tinyurl.com/hw9zckr
"Rich Presidents of Poor Nations: Capital Flight from Resource-Rich
Countries in Africa " by Léonce Ndikumana and James K. Boyce
http://tinyurl.com/zaad6kq
"The Benefits of Country-by-Country Reporting" by Richard Murphy
http://tinyurl.com/gpsfn4o
Secret Offshore Deals Deprive Africa of Billions in Natural Resource
Dollars Still racing towards the bottom? Corporate tax Incentives in
East Africa The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers,
and the Theft of Africa's Wealth BOOK Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax
Havens BOOK Top Ten Books on Illicit Financial Flows, Tax Justice, and Africa
http://www.africafocus.org/iff-books.php
Acronyms and Abbreviations about Illicit Financial Flows
http://tinyurl.com/zqlshk5
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
reposted material, please contact directly the original source
mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see
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