Transparency International says more needs to be done to stop illicit financial flows

Transparency International today called on the United Nations and its member states to do more to ensure development funds reach the people they are meant to help by establishing global mechanisms to stop illicit financial flows.

“Corruption siphons funds that would otherwise have been dedicated towards fighting poverty,” said Transparency International Vice Chair Akere Muna. “While the sources of illicit financial flows may be many and diverse, corruption remains the single crosscutting driver. To facilitate the mobilisation of domestic resources by governments to fight against poverty, Transparency International strongly advocates all necessary action be taken to stop illicit financial flows.”

Transparency International specifically called on the United Nations and its member states at the Financing for Development meeting in July 2015 to ensure that global mechanisms are put into place to fight against illicit financial flows, which seriously undermine and impede the allocation of sustainable funding for development.

Furthermore, the financial sector must address the problem of illicit financial flows in all its forms in the world’s global financial system by ensuring financial transparency.

Transparency International called on governments around the world to adopt public registries of beneficial ownership, as this constitutes a major safeguard against those who use the absence of disclosure of beneficial ownership as a means of hiding illicit gains.

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