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	Fighting corruption: why civil society needs a place at the table by Trustlaw, Transparency International Trustlaw & agencies   29 April 2013   Fighting corruption: why civil society needs a place at the table. (Transparency International)   The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the milestone international agreement ratified by 165 countries that establishes a legal framework for governments to introduce regulations to combat corruption, will be 10 years old in October. The Convention emphasises the importance of civil society being part of anti-corruption efforts.   Since 2009 the UNCAC has had a monitoring and evaluation mechanism to assess whether governments are living up to their commitments and what kind of assistance they need to do this. Civil society, however, has been barred from taking part in intergovernmental meetings to discuss issues surrounding the results of the review process.   On 29 April 2013 the UNCAC Coalition, a global group of more than 350 civil society organisations wrote a letter to the UNCAC Implementation Review Group (IRG), which oversees the review process, making its case (again) for why that should be changed.   The IRG meets again during the week of 27 May in Vienna to discuss the latest findings about country implementation; in parallel, civil society has prepared an assessment of the review process, including recommendations for improvements.   It is common sense, and not without precedent at the United Nations, that both parties should discuss their efforts at the same table. Civil society organisations, for example, participate in the review process of the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to name just two.   Last week, at a meeting of the UN Crime Commission, the Norwegian government delivered an oral statement to delegates, asking for civil society participation in the discussions in Vienna on how to move UNCAC implementation forward. The statement endorsed what we believe is a fundamental principle: allowing citizens to see and hear what their governments are doing, to contribute their know-how to the discussions and to engage in dialogue to support progress.   Civil society can make a difference   For more than 10 years, Transparency International and a large cross-section of civil society organisations have been promoting the UN Convention against Corruption, participating in the negotiations for the Convention, advocating for ratification and mobilising support for a review process. In that time the number of States Parties to the Convention went from 95 in 2003 to 165 this year.   Civil society organisations have, over the past 20 years, gained significant experience on what works and what does not in fighting corruption, and have worked with governments to advance the anti-corruption agenda. For the past three years, civil society groups have contributed to the UNCAC review process in the form of independent evaluations of how countries are implementing the Convention. So far the UNCAC Coalition has produced 17 country reports, aimed at supporting and promoting government implementation efforts.   At a time when trust in governments’ commitment to fight corruption is declining, it is imperative to allow civil society to participate in a process that it helped create. This would signal the kind of transparency that is at the heart of the Convention and would help achieve the goals of the Convention. It would also signal that the United Nations is setting an exemplary standard for civil society participation.   If civil society is not at the table, it will make it harder to hold countries to account and easier for corruption to flourish. Transparency is always the best policy.   As the UNCAC Coalition letter to the Implementation Review Group points out, the Rules of Procedure for the UNCAC Conference of States Parties provides for civil society participation in the meetings of UNCAC-related bodies that take place in Vienna. In addition, the requirement for civil society participation in anti-corruption efforts is supported by UNCAC’s Article 13, which specifically states:   Each State Party shall take appropriate measures, within its means and in accordance with fundamental principles of its domestic law, to promote the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations, in the prevention of and the fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of and the threat posed by corruption.   Civil society has an important contribution to make to the UNCAC process and should be informed about government efforts. That is why the UNCAC includes requirements for transparency and civil society participation. This should be respected by governments, not only at national level but also in international deliberations. We are not asking for a concession, rather we are simply asking governments to act on the convention they signed.   We hope more governments will join Norway and ask the IRG and UNCAC Working Groups to welcome civil society organisations to become part of their discussions. This is a win-win situation if the ultimate goal is combating corruption. Transparency, inclusiveness and dialogue between stakeholders can only help.   http://www.uncaccoalition.org/   Apr 2013   Hopes Transparency laws will release money to tackle poverty, by Graham Gordon.   The European Council and Parliament has reached a historic agreement on transparency legislation so that extractive industry companies will publish what they pay in countries where they operate.   The legislation will help in the global fight against corruption, as well as releasing resources for development in an international context where alternatives to aid are increasingly needed. Natural resource revenues are crucial in the fight against poverty. In 2010 exports of oil, minerals and gas to Africa were nearly seven times what the continent received in international aid.   Bishop Munga, member of the Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi-stakeholder Group, was with us in Brussels last year, calling on European leaders to pass legislation that will support our efforts to empower citizens and combat corruption. Last night he welcomed the news”.   “With increasing annual revenues from gold and with the potential for billions of dollars in the future from Tanzania’s gas fields, greater transparency will mean that the money is more likely to reach where it is needed most,” he told me.   Tearfund, as part of the Publish What You Pay Coalition, and with our partner agencies throughout the world, has been working for many years to bring about these changes. Speaking on a short video clip, Martin Kapenda, from Micah Challenge Zambia, told us that in a country rich in copper the transparency legislation will, “release more money for our government to help them to provide better services in health and education… and to fight poverty.”   Key MEPs such as Arlene McArthy and Klaus-Heiner Lehne have fought for many months for this on behalf of the European Parliament and in the ongoing negotiations. Successive UK Business Ministers such as Jo Swinson, Ed Davey and Norman Lamb have showed strong commitment during negotiations. Tearfund campaigners have also taken more than 40,000 actions to make it happen through the Unearth the Truth campaign. All of their efforts have paid off.   The EU legislation will complement similar US Dodd-Frank regulations that were passed last August. It means transparency legislation will now cover about two thirds of all listed oil, gas and mining companies worldwide. This is a significant step in the fight against corruption, but be under no illusion, there is still much more to play for.   Five of the G8 Countries now have similar laws, but that means three still don’t. This summer’s summit in Lough Erne provides an ideal opportunity for Canada, Japan and Russia to commit to passing their own legislation. It must also encourage the emerging economies of Brazil, India, China and South Africa to do the same. Only together will we ensure global fair play that brings a better deal for the world’s poorest communities.   At the same time as the increasing tide towards greater transparency, the American Petroleum Institute (API) has brought a lawsuit seeking to overturn the US rules. This is despite the fact that many of the companies that are members of API, such as BP and Shell, are also members of other transparency initiatives. Most of API’s arguments have been rejected, and with the EU agreement yesterday it is time for responsible oil, gas and mining companies to publicly distance themselves from efforts to promote a culture of secrecy that will ultimately encourage corruption and hinder development.   * Graham Gordon is the Senior Policy Officer, Governance and Corruption at Tearfund.   http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/viewpoint-transparency-laws-will-release-money-to-tackle-poverty/   Apr 2013   PARIS – France is to create a new agency to fight financial fraud and force its banks to detail activities in tax havens, in a bid to clamp down on tax evasion and corruption after the disgraced budget minister confessed to hiding money in a secret foreign bank account, the Guardian reports. President François Hollande’s approval ratings have fallen since Jerome Cahuzac confessed to hiding €600,000 in a foreign account and lying about it. Hollande unveiled measures to ensure more transparency and integrity in public life and promised a "relentless fight" against financial crime, greed and opaque finance.   http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/uk-stance-on-eu-extractives-law-inspired-by-rio-tinto-euro-mp/ http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/austria-slams-us-uk-tax-havens-as-eu-turns-up-heat/ http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/04/12/1857711/republicans-press-treasury-to-support-tax-reform-allowing-corporations-to-offshore-more-profits/ http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/special-coverage-grilling-the-graft-busters/ Visit the related web page
	Secrecy for Sale: Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze by Consortium of Investigative Journalists   Secret records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reveal tens of thousands of people in more than 170 countries and territories linked to offshore companies and trusts.   For the past 15 months, journalists from over 40 countries have worked together to shed light on financial secrecy jurisdictions.   Government officials and their families and associates in Azerbaijan, Russia, Canada, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia and other countries have embraced the use of covert companies and bank accounts.   The mega-rich use complex offshore structures to own mansions, yachts, art masterpieces and other assets, gaining tax advantages and anonymity not available to average people.   Many of the world’s top’s banks – including UBS, Clariden and Deutsche Bank – have aggressively worked to provide their customers with secrecy-cloaked companies in the British Virgin Islands and other offshore hideaways.   A well-paid industry of accountants, middlemen and other operatives has helped offshore patrons shroud their identities and business interests, providing shelter in many cases to money laundering or other misconduct.   Ponzi schemers and other large-scale fraudsters routinely use offshore havens to pull off their shell games and move their ill-gotten gains. http://www.icij.org/offshore   June 2013   ICIJ releases offshore leaks database revealing names behind secret companies, trusts, By Marina Walker Guevara.   When Bernard Madoff built his $65 billion house of cards; when food distributors passed off horsemeat as beef lasagna in Europe; and when Apple, Google and other American companies set up structures to channel their profits through Ireland — they all used tax havens.   They bought secrecy, minimal or zero taxes and legal insulation, the distinctive products that tax havens market and that allow companies to operate in a fiscal and regulatory vacuum. Using the offshore economy is akin to acquiring your own island where the rules that most citizens follow don’t apply.   The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists publishes today a database that, for the first time in history, will help begin to strip away this secrecy across 10 offshore jurisdictions.   The Offshore Leaks Database allows users to search through more than 100,000 secret companies, trusts and funds created in offshore locales such as the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands and Singapore. The Offshore Leaks web app, developed by La Nación newspaper in Costa Rica for ICIJ, displays graphic visualizations of offshore entities and the networks around them, including, when possible, the company’s true owners.   The data are part of a cache of 2.5 million leaked offshore files ICIJ analyzed with 112 journalists in 58 countries. Since April, stories based on the data — the largest stockpile of inside information about the offshore system ever obtained by a media organization — have been published by more than 40 media organizations worldwide, including The Guardian in the U.K., Le Monde in France, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Norddeutscher Rundfunk in Germany, The Washington Post and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).   ICIJ’s investigation — called Offshore Leaks by the Twittersphere and the public —has shaken the political and economic establishments from South Korea to Canada, sparking investigations, resignations and a renewed sense of urgency among world leaders that this is the time to rein in offshore abuses .   EU Commissioner Algirdas Semeta said the ICIJ’s investigation has transformed tax politics and amplified political will to tackle the problem of tax evasion – knocking down what the EUobserver called “a wall of apathy” in Europe that had thwarted previous attempts to attack offshore secrecy.   “I personally think Offshore Leaks could be identified as the most significant trigger behind these developments ... It has created visibility of the issue and it has triggered political recognition of the amplitude of the problem,” he told EU Observer.   Semeta said the need for tax transparency overrides the principle of data privacy.   During a visit to the White House in May, British Prime Minister David Cameron made a strong pitch for tackling what he called “the scourge of tax evasion,” one of the central themes of next week’s “G8” meeting, in Northern Ireland, of leaders of eight of the world’s wealthiest countries. “We need to know who really owns a company, who profits from it, whether taxes are paid,” said Cameron, who is under pressure from the international community to address the role of Britain’s crown dependencies and territories in the offshore economy.   Anti-corruption advocates are pushing Cameron to persuade the other G8 leaders to support proposals that would require owners of shell companies to register their holdings in public registries.   ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks Database reveals the names behind more than 100,000 secret companies and trusts created by two offshore services firms: Singapore-based Portcullis TrustNet and BVI-based Commonwealth Trust Limited (CTL). TrustNet and CTL’s clients are spread over more than 170 countries and territories.   The Offshore Leaks web app allows readers to explore the relationships between clients, offshore entities and the lawyers, accountants, banks and other intermediaries who help keep these arrangements secret.   While the database opens up a world that has never been revealed on such a massive scale, the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database is not a “data dump” — it is a careful release of basic corporate information. ICIJ won’t release personal data en masse; the Offshore Leaks Database doesn’t include records of bank accounts and financial transactions, emails and other correspondence, passports and telephone numbers. The selected and limited information is being published in the public interest.   Pressure for Change   ICIJ’s reporting to date has revealed the offshore dealings of politicians, oligarchs, rogue nations and even religious leaders. While many of the arrangements are perfectly legal, extensive reporting by ICIJ and others show that the anonymity granted by the offshore economy facilitates money laundering, tax evasion, fraud and other crimes.   Even when it’s legal, transparency advocates argue that the use of an alternative, parallel economy undermines democracy because it benefits a few at the expense of the majority.   After 17 months of reporting, ICIJ reporters and partners are still digging into this massive trove of financial information. The Offshore Leaks Database gives ICIJ an opportunity to reach journalists and regular citizens in every corner of the world, particularly in countries most affected by corruption and backroom deals. ICIJ believes many of the best stories may come from its readers when they explore the database.   As it fields tips from the public, ICIJ will continue to work on in-depth, cross-border investigations with its network of reporters and media partners. At the same time, ICIJ will continue to reject demands from governments that it turn over all of the files in its offshore trove. ICIJ is an independent network of investigative reporters — not an arm of government.   Some of the same governments that at one time requested ICIJ and its partners to hand over the full cache of files later announced that they have been working on a gigantic leak of offshore documents similar to those obtained by ICIJ. U.S., U.K. and Australian tax authorities said they will share the data with other governments.   The release of the Offshore Leaks Database happens at a time of economic turmoil. Many countries are still fighting the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, putting leaders around the world are under unprecedented domestic and international pressure to make sure tax revenue is not lost to offshore havens.   Within days of ICIJ’s April release of dozens of stories based on the secret offshore files, French president Francois Hollande called for the “eradication” of tax havens. Europe’s largest economic powers — the U.K., France, Spain, Italy and Germany — announced that they will start exchanging bank information.   The surprise was even bigger when tiny Luxembourg, long known as one of the world’s most secretive tax havens, said it will share information with tax authorities about European and U.S. citizens with bank accounts in the country. Another “onshore” European tax haven, Austria, saw the country’s most powerful banker, Herbert Stepic, resign in May in the wake of an Offshore Leaks story that revealed he used companies in Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands to conduct property deals he did not report to his employer, Raiffeisen Bank International AG.   Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Cameron is trying to clean up his own backyard: the 10 crown dependencies and overseas territories that serve as tax havens. He has summoned their top ministers to London this weekend to try to convince them to share tax information widely with governments around the world. In a letter to the territories, Cameron told them that the time has come to “knock down the walls of company secrecy."   Semeta, the EU tax commissioner, said the change in EU politics — after years of stalling — is due to “a perfect storm” of events, including ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks.   “Secrecy is no longer acceptable. We need to get rid of it,” Pascal Saint-Amans, tax policy director for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, told The Toronto Star. “If the rules make it possible, then we''''ll change the rules.”   http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/06/14/12833/icij-releases-offshore-leaks-database-revealing-names-behind-secret-companies   http://www.icij.org/ http://www.publicintegrity.org/   http://www.transparency.org Visit the related web page
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