It’s time to stop the corrupt from hiding their identity and illegal activities. Corrupt politicians and businesspeople continue to escape justice and enjoy luxury lifestyles funded by stolen public money, smuggling illicit funds through shadowy secret companies. Help us unmask the corrupt by demanding public registries of these companies.
So says the anti-corruption pressure group Transparency International (TI), ahead of the G20 summit in Australia next month. TI gives the case of a Nigerian governor, convicted for money laundering by a British court. TI asks British banks, educational establishments, estate agents and luxury goods dealers raise any alarms, for instance when he purchased a house for £2.2m with hard cash. TI adds that it is proving exceptionally hard for the authorities to seize the stolen assets and return them to the people of the Niger Delta. They are hidden behind complex legal structures and protected by a barrage of top London lawyers and accountants. Under UK law, ames Ibori, former governor of Nigeria’s poverty-stricken yet oil-rich Delta State, can pay his legal costs with the assets that are themselves under investigation.
To get involved in the TI campaign ‘Unmask the Corrupt‘ – visit http://www.transparency.org/unmask_the_corrupt/en/section-get-involved.
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TI say that the corrupt should be brought to justice and punished. Citizens have a right to know who’s cheating the system. TI want the leaders of the world’s biggest economies – the G20 – to publish lists of the real owners of all companies, and to make it harder for the corrupt to travel internationally and enjoy their ill-gotten gains.
Meanwhile TI in the UK has brought out guidance on how to prevent match-fixing in football at club level.
Reports of match-fixing linked to corrupt sports gambling has been on the increase in recent years, the campaigners say. To address the problem football authorities have introduced a number of counter-measures. But more needs to be done to educate those targeted by match-fixers on the risks they face, how they might be approached and the action they should take to protect themselves and the integrity of their club and their sport. Hence the guide aimed at football club officials and those who work with football players at all levels in the UK. The guide has been developed as part of Staying on Side: How to Stop Match-Fixing, Transparency International’s multi-country project relating to corruption and sport.
