Anti-poverty organization ONE is demanding that leaders of the 20 largest economies act decisively at an annual summit in November against money laundering, bribery, tax evasion and corruption which it estimates costs the world’s poorest countries more than US$1 trillion a year.
The Washington-based advocacy group yesterday launched its report on the economic cost of corruption on the developing world in the Australian capital Canberra at a Parliament House event attended by diplomats from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
ONE is lobbying Australia to use its presidency of the G20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 to end a culture of secrecy that allows corruption and criminality to thrive in many countries.
The report, The Trillion Dollar Scandal, estimates that as many as 3.6 million deaths could be prevented if money drained from the poorest economies by corruption was invested in health systems.
“Developing countries are losing a trillion dollars every year as result of money laundering, bribery and tax evasion, and the uncomfortable truth is that often the policies put in place by G20 countries are facilitating those outflows from the world’s poorest countries,” report author David McNair said.
McNair pointed to World Bank research that found 70 percent of major international financial scandals since 1980 involved shelf companies in which the owners were unknown.
The report found that the losses could be significantly reduced if policies were put in place to increase transparency and combat corruption in four key areas: money laundering, a public register of principals of phantom firms in which ownership structures are hidden, public disclosure of company payments made in natural resource deals and an international exchange of tax information to combat tax evasion.
McNair held meetings in Canberra this week with officials from Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s office, the Treasury and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to argue for support for the ONE recommendations.
ONE used three methodologies to calculate the costs of secrecy and corruption to the poorest countries. All agreed that the cost was between US$1 billion and US$2 billion.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the