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	Authorities should disclose information about efforts to stop banks laundering money by Transparency International Secretariat   Feb. 2017   Transparency International says bank regulators need to publish much more information about whether banks are doing what’s required by law to stop money laundering. This would ensure that citizens and businesses can be confident corrupt individuals and organisations, criminals, or terrorists are not using the global banking system.   A new report from Transparency International shows that in countries hosting the world’s biggest banks, little data on anti-money laundering prevention and enforcement is published, or is if it is published it is out-of-date.   “Mistrust of banks will continue unless people know they are working on their behalf and not for the corrupt. Corruption and money laundering undermine the basic rule of law, weaken democratic institutions and damage economies and societies. It drives inequality and blocks efforts to stop poverty. We need to see that the people meant to stop corruption in the banking industry are doing their job,” said José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International.   Transparency International’s study, Top Secret: Countries keep financial crime fighting data to themselves, shows that data about authorities’ anti-money laundering efforts are only partially available across 12 countries, including Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UK and the US. This includes data as basic as the number of times banks were sanctioned for money laundering failures in a given country, a number which is only public in four out of the 12 countries assessed - Australia, Cyprus, Italy and the US.   “There is no good reason to keep this data secret. Are they protecting us from the next financial crisis? We, the citizens, have the right to know if the financial sector is being permissive or complicit with illicit activity,” added Ugaz.   In 2013 alone, developing countries lost an estimated US$1.1 trillion to illicit financial flows – the illegal movement of money from one country to another. Effective anti-money laundering measures, in both developed and developing countries, are essential to end these illicit flows.   The public also needs evidence that action is being taken, not only to build trust in the institutions that hold our money, but also as a deterrent against crime by making sure bank examiners are effective.   Policing the financial sector requires strong, consistent and effective anti-money laundering supervision by authorities. Just like health and safety inspectors in restaurants, national financial supervisors have the power to visit and inspect banks (on-site monitoring), identify and record failings in their systems, and impose sanctions where necessary.   Citizens have a right to know the extent to which supervisors are applying this power in practice to uphold the law in the financial sector.   By increasing media and citizen oversight, making more data about these activities public would help to make anti-money laundering systems more effective.   Transparency International recommends that countries publish anti-money laundering oversight and enforcement statistics on a yearly basis, in a single report or data file. The requirement to publish yearly anti-money laundering data should become a standard recommendation of international bodies, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the G20.   Transparency on this important aspect of financial market enforcement is only a first, but vital, step on the long road to cleansing the global financial system of dirty money. Visit the related web page
	Nepal to probe report that poor women are selling skin to be used in plastic surgery by Gopal Sharma Thomson Reuters Foundation   March 2017   Nepal said it will investigate a report claiming poor women are being trafficked and duped into selling their skin to be used for penis and breast enlargements in the global cosmetic surgery market.   An investigation by the Indian news website Youth Ki Awaaz (Voice of the Youth) said Nepali women were selling 20 square inches (130 square cm) of skin tissue from their backs for $150 to be used in plastic surgery.   Women, Child and Social Welfare Minister Kumar Khadka told the Thomson Reuters Foundation the government was shocked after reading the report published on March 6.   "We are stunned by the report," Khadka said late on Thursday. "We will investigate and if found to be correct, the government will make all efforts to stop this heinous crime and punish those responsible."   The trafficking of Nepalis from the impoverished Himalayan nation to neighbouring India for labour and sexual exploitation - and even kidney transplantation - is widely reported, but cases of trafficking in human skin tissue are unheard of.   The report, by Indian journalist Soma Basu, said the Nepali women were trafficked to brothels in Indian cities such as Mumbai and then later duped into selling their skin. Some victims said they were drugged and their skin removed.   The skin tissue, said the report, is sold onto pathology laboratories in India where it is processed and exported to companies in the United States which manufacture skin and tissue derivative products for the global plastic surgery market.   Women''s rights activists called on the government to urgently investigate the report and launch public campaigns in high-risk, poorer districts of the country prone to trafficking.   "The government should be serious about this and protect our women," said Sunita Danuwar of Shakti Samuha, a charity which helps to rehabilitate victims of trafficking.   "Mere lip service will make no difference and innocent villagers will continue to be trafficked for their organs like skin and kidneys." Visit the related web page
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