eg. Siemens sees its renewed affiliation with TI as a way to greenwash its tattered reputation…TI sees Siemens as a piggy bank to replenish its diminished treasury, having lost millions after being cut off recently by state funding agencies…Even though the Siemens bribery scandal broke in 2006, the company is still being investigated in more than 20 countries, Siemens is still under suspicion.”…however, Last year, TI filed an application to Siemens for millions of dollars in funding
<> COCOO… : ‘revolvingdoor’, but also of TI legally blackmailing siemens to pay them grants in exchange for [silence = settling a pap??]
TI : TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL (ANTICORRUPTION ON DEFENCE WORLDWIDE)
TI: EMBARGOED REPORT: THE ETHICS OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST DEFENCE COMPANIES
why [corruption=bribery] is a wpi:
-because ordinary people suffer the biggest consequences….Money lost to foreign bribery wastes millions of dollars that would otherwise go towards essential, and often lifesaving services, like health care and education
-damages people’s trust in their government, AND IN DEMOCRACY.
-Impedes cross-border investment,
-deters fair competition in international trade and discriminates against small and medium size companies.
-anticomp challenge for companies that play by the rules.
oecd antibribery convention:
active enforcement of this convention is missing. In prioritising profits over principles, governments in most major exporting countries fail to investigate or prosecute companies flouting laws criminalising foreign bribery, and are bribed to assign tenders to companies that pay bribes.
Largest exporters are the worst enforcers against foreign bribery…..
eg. oecd may publish a party’s ongoing failure to comply with the conv, in the:
- The Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) Country Risk Classification measures the country credit risk and the likelihood that a country will service its external debt.
- End secrecy in ownership of companies which acts as a barrier to detection and investigation of foreign bribery.
- Make enforcement statistics and case outcomes public to show how international corruption is being handled.
- Stop treating foreign bribery as a victimless crime and build in victims’ compensation into the enforcement process.
- Strengthen laws and enforcement systems to handle complex international corruption cases and improve international structures for cooperation.
- Explore increased liability of parent companies for the actions of their subsidiaries to help deter foreign bribery and related money laundering
- speed up introduction of proper BORs
The ti 2018 report reveals that more than half of world exports come from countries that fail to punish foreign bribery. Only 11 countries significantly punish companies that pay bribes abroad (to get exports). Thirty-three countries have limited, little or no enforcement. The inaction of these countries violates their obligations under the convention.
BORs
the 2018 EU anti-money laundering directive, led to the creation of public registers with information on companies’ real (BENEFICIAL) owners. ….BUT…THEN, the (ecj=CJEU) struck down public access to information on companies’ bos. This was a major setback….becos, now, for public to access bo data will need to show a “legitimate interest”. ecj + amld:
- -media and civil society organisations that are involved in the fight against money laundering have a legitimate interest in accessing bo data
- members of the public transacting with a company, have a legitimate interest in accessing bo on that company
- government authorities such as election management bodies and supreme audit institutions, when access to beneficial ownership information will support the prevention and combatting of money laundering and its predicate offencesforeign competent authorities tasked with the fight against money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorism financing
- academics working on studies and analysis to support the fight against money laundering
- any other member of the public that can demonstrate a legitimate interest in connection with the objectives of AMLD
TI projects/advocacy:
The Global Anti-Corruption Consortium
=[the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) + ti ].
The Azerbaijani Laundromat
OCCRP’s Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation revealed a US$2.9 billion money- laundering operation and slush fund run by Azerbaijan’s ruling elite. Run through four shell companies registered in the UK, with billions passing through Danske Bank – Denmark’s biggest bank – the money bought silence or praise from European politicians in influential human rights bodies, as well as from journalists and representatives of international organisations.
Over the same two-year period, the government imprisoned more than 90 human rights activists, opposition members and journalists on politically motivated charges.
Investigative journalists identified delegates of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) among the ultimate recipients of the laundered money.
Transparency International rallied public pressure, presented European and national policymakers with evidence of reputation laundering and advocated for an independent investigation into allegations of corruption at the PACE. Resignations at the highest levels of the PACE followed almost immediately. A year later, PACE’s independent external investigation found numerous breaches of codes of conduct and, in some cases, corrupt activities
March 2019, Transparency International Germany filed criminal complaints against the current and former members of the German Bundestag over alleged bribery. In January 2020, the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt am Main, Germany opened an investigation into these parliamentarians.
The Azerbaijani Laundromat also provided evidence to push for greater accountability of Western financial institutions facilitating these schemes, and tougher EU-wide anti-money laundering supervision.
Golden visas & passports
When Transparency International first started scrutinising EU investment migration schemes – known as ‘golden visas and passports’ – it was not common to see these as a threat to global anti-corruption efforts. Isolated corruption stories in individual countries were casually dismissed by governments that were benefiting from the substantial revenues these schemes were raising.
Then, OCCRP’s Gold for Visas investigations illustrated rampant sale of EU citizenship and residency to the ultra-rich with few checks.
While we soon convinced the EU to take notice, reforms have stalled. Transparency International kept up the pressure, and the campaign saw a breakthrough in the final months of 2020.
Following the Cyprus Papers investigations by Al Jazeera, Cypriot government ended its citizenship-by-investment programme. The European Commission – just like we had recommended – initiated legal action against Cyprus and Malta, with an eye towards banning investor citizenship schemes in the EU.
The Great Gambia Heist
Yahya Jammeh ruled The Gambia for 22 long years. The Great Gambia Heist investigations exposed how he and his cronies allegedly looted government funds, draining state-owned enterprises, the country’s pension fund and natural resources.
In 2019, OCCRP documented the previously unknown scale of grand corruption under Jammeh. Acting with impunity, his government looted the country’s assets, committed egregious human rights violations and passed repressive laws to disempower citizens.
On the heel of these investigations, Transparency International and local civil society group Gambia Participates engaged with communities through an innovative ‘participatory video’ filmmaking technique. The resulting film contains stories that serve as testimonies to the human cost of corruption and to people’s perseverance.
Following its screening, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) invited three people interviewed in the film to testify about the harm they had suffered. The film was shown at two TRRC hearings to direct the line of questioning and admitted as evidence, leading to two former officials being questioned.
In July 2020 – following a submission we made the year before – the US Department of Justice began proceedings to confiscate a property connected to Jammeh
the Open Government Partnership (OGP) + ti
International Monetary Fund
Sustainable Development Goals = SDGs = Global Goals [to achieve by 2030]:
This is not just an issue for low-income states; rich countries must take action on cross-border corruption, foreign bribery, tax evasion and related illicit financial flows which collectively deprive developing countries of over US$1 trillion per year.
Through independent analysis of the strength of legal and institutional frameworks in up to 17 different policy areas related to SDG 16 in their countries, our chapters generate evidence to put pressure for change on decision-makers, including at the flagship UN events where governments report on their progress towards the SDGs.READ NEWSKNOW MORE
G20 (Group of 20)
ti is actively advocating for the G20 to show global leadership in tackling corruption.
United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC)
ti advocacy to uncac, particularly at key meetings. eg at the UNCAC Conference of States Parties (CoSP).
ti works with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), we provide training for civil society organisations to learn about the best ways to engage with the official UNCAC review process.
Ti also prepare UNCAC review reports tracking government performance, and make submissions to relevant consultation processes.
Open Government Partnership .OGP:
is a platform for civil society and local and national public institutions to work together to increase openness and accountability in government.
ti’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). published annually
in 2015 Russia’s Ministry of Justice added Ti t their list of “foreign agents” ….On 2023, Transparency International was declared an undesirable organization in Russia